NEA President Becky Pringle: As They Return to School for the New Year, Students Should Not Have to Fear for Their Safety or that of Their Families

“For most of us, back-to-school means fresh chances to learn, make new friends, and reconnect with our favorite educators. For some, however, especially our most vulnerable students in diverse communities across this country, the back-to-school experience is turning into uncertainty, chaos, and fear at the hands of the Trump administration’s ICE and DHS agents. 

“These unnecessary and disruptive actions at the hands of ICE and DHS have no place in our communities. They are cruel and actively interfering with students’ ability to learn and educators’ ability to teach. Attendance, learning, and a student’s basic sense of security all depend on knowing that the walk to the bus stop and the school day itself are safe. 

“For those who do in fact make it to school, they sit in classrooms fearing that they will return to an empty home, with no adult there to meet them at the end of the day. Or worse, as we have seen in Danbury, Connecticut, this week, parents and caretakers were detained and disappeared as they dropped off their kids at school buses. They fear that walking to the bus stop means walking toward danger. No student should have to carry this fear into the classroom. These events and experiences shake communities to their core. 

“NEA and allies took the Trump administration to court in September 2025 to restore protections that it eliminated when they entered office. Those protections kept immigration enforcement away from sensitive locations such as public schools, places of worship, and hospitals. As we await a decision on the case, NEA and its members will continue to show up for our students and their families wherever they are, and we will stand up for our public schools and communities when they are under attack.”

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The National Education Association is the nation’s largest professional employee organization, representing more than 3 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators, students preparing to become teachers, healthcare workers, and public employees. Learn more at www.nea.org.