The impacts of the Trump administration’s ongoing immigration enforcement efforts are felt across public high schools across the U.S., with some experiencing bullying and a drop in attendance, according to a survey by the University of California, Los Angeles.
The UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education and Access published its findings Wednesday, reflecting responses from more than 600 high school principals in the summer of 2025 when anti-immigration operations began in Los Angeles.
Among the findings, over 70% of the U.S. high schools were affected given the heightened concerns that students from immigrant families have over their families’ well-being.
That may be why more than half of the surveyed principals said they are seeing a decline in attendance from students from immigrant families.
“(Students) from immigrant families missed school due to policies or political rhetoric related to immigrants,” the report concluded.
Even those who show up to their school appear to be experiencing ripple effects because of a troubling trend of bullying toward students from immigrant families, especially Hispanic teenagers. More than 35% of the high schools saw bullying incidents, with some students threatening their Hispanic classmates with comments, such as “Can I see your papers?” or “Go back home.”
“We had some students that reported that some of their peers were saying, ‘Go home, you don’t belong here.’ And that hadn’t been their experience before—until this administration,” Jennifer Duran, principal of a mid-size high school in Texas, told UCLA.
A large majority of the schools have taken actions to address the needs of immigrant families and their children, including creating a school plan in case of visits from federal agents.
And nearly half of the schools also have trained staff on how to support students from immigrant families, the survey said.
“I probably dealt with seven or eight staff breaking down in tears about a student or … a worry or fear,” California principal Deborah Stewart told the UCLA researchers.