Dive Brief:

• Teachers are among those given temporary reprieve from deportation through the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, but President Donald Trump promised on the campaign trail he would eliminate it, leaving them in a state of uncertainty.
• Education Week reports 100 Teach for America members across 11 states are undocumented, and the organization has offered legal assistance to them as well as 46 alumni, all of whom have been able to find jobs because of work permits authorized through DACA.
• While many schools and districts have stepped up to offer explicit support and protection for undocumented students and teachers, others have remained quiet or asked teachers not to talk about Trump’s immigration actions.

Dive Insight:

If Trump eliminates the DACA program, more than 700,000 people will lose the right to work, they will lose access to driver’s licenses and they will be forced to hide from deportation to countries they may not even remember. DACA is geared toward people who were brought to this country by their parents as children.

Many schools are facing new challenges in the classroom since Trump got elected because so many students and families are living in fear of deportation. While Obama deported more immigrants than any president before him, Trump was more explicit in his plans to remove those who are here illegally, and it is creating new stressors and trauma for teachers to overcome.