What’s at stake?
The Parent Institute for Quality Education released a report detailing fears and concerns that Latino parents and caregivers have while facing increasing immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
A new report highlights problems and worries Latino parents have about taking their kids to school amid increased immigration enforcement under the Trump administration.
The Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE) spoke with 38 parents and caregivers in the Central Valley, Los Angeles and Bay Area, focusing on Latino populations that have been targeted by immigration enforcement with children in transitional kindergarten (TK) and kindergarten.
Their report includes testimonies from parents and guardians, and details the anxieties they feel surrounding their children’s attendance in school.
“We know that there is an emphasis on Latinos, that there was expanded immigration enforcement, along with political rhetoric, shifting federal policies that led to deepened fears in and out of immigrant communities,” said Elizabeth Cabrera, vice president of program and impact at PIQE during a Tuesday webinar about the study.
In the last 12 months, only 2.63% of the parents interviewed reported their student as chronically absent. Across all areas, however, one in five parents and guardians reported absences for their children caused by fears of ICE enforcement or from required immigration court hearings.
“In the Central Valley, caregivers frequently linked absences to ICE raids and immigration court dates, more so than in the other two regions,” said Monique Escobedo, PIQE’s director of research who conducted the study.
Central Valley parents consistently reported a lack of understanding attendance policies at schools and a need for better, more accessible information from educators.
One parent identified in the report as Tania said she lacked knowledge of school attendance policies and language barriers at schools only made her more confused about her child’s early education.
When she sought out answers from her child’s school, she found herself unable to communicate with the staff.
“They left me completely in the dark. I can ask questions — it’s up to me to go — but when I did, nobody spoke Spanish. None of them,” Tania stated in the report.
The PIQE report adds to a growing field of research on how immigration raids are linked to lower school attendance. Back in June, a report by Stanford University professor Thomas S. Dee found that absences in multiple Central Valley school districts spiked by 22% after a Border Patrol raid in Kern County in January.
That same report noted that absence rates were higher with younger students, due to a higher concentration of young children living in households with undocumented immigrants and because of separation fears by parents from a potential run-in with federal agents.
Chronic absenteeism rates in Fresno County
Across Fresno County transitional kindergarten and kindergarten populations, chronic absenteeism has been decreasing since the highs of the pandemic.
Of the 17,686 TK/kindergarten students enrolled in the 2021-22 school year, nearly half, or 48.6%, were chronically absent, representing 8,587 students who missed at least 10% of school days.
The latest data from the state’s Data Reporting Office shows improvement since the spike during the pandemic. In the 2024-25 school year, the county’s chronic absenteeism rate reached 27.4% out of a total of 20,140 students. However, this is still higher than the pre-covid rate of 16% in 2018-19.
“Chronic absenteeism remains a concern in Fresno County, as it does across the state, and we know that attendance patterns established in the early years often carry throughout a student’s education,” said Michele Cantwell-Copher, Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, in a statement to Fresnoland.
Jennifer Brietigam, director of communications and outreach for the Fresno County Superintendent of Schools, also shared plans for the upcoming release of a website to help parents find early learning resources.
The site is currently being developed by the FCSS Early Care and Education department and is set to be released early in 2026.
“The site will include listings for local programs such as family childcare homes, private center-based care, preschool and transitional kindergarten, along with guidance on paying for childcare and other early learning resources for families,” Brietigam said. “It will also serve as a central hub for ECE professionals and community navigators who support families across the county.”
Related