“Further, it is the policy of the United States to achieve the total and efficient enforcement of those laws, including through lawful incentives and detention capabilities.”
-Section 2 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, given by Trump’s executive order in 2025
When president Trump came into office, he promised in executive orders that immigration would be handled legally and with due process. As the year progressed, though, the lawful handling of immigration and deportation seemingly disappeared. People were deported without notice, sought out in the streets, and targeted in spaces of religion and education. Recently, there have been reports of residents of the United States being unlawfully deported without proper legal actions, such as college students having their valid study visas revoked on account of new laws.
Students and staff at Hamilton expressed anger and disbelief and even fear at these reports of immigrants being deported without due process and taken off of streets and even from their homes by federal ICE agents.
Many students are becoming concerned with the state that new immigration policies have put the country into and how it has trickled down to school zones and changed situations on familiar campuses.
Ashley Garcia, an SAS senior and the president of the school’s Latino Student Organization, worries about what she has seen in recent weeks.
“I have a lot of kids whose parents are immigrants and every single day there are kids worried that their parents will never have the courage to go outside anymore,” said Ashley.
Language teacher Mr. Estrada agreed with Ashley, stating that he is also a firsthand witness to how immigration policies affect the people around him. He said he has seen it more closely within the Latino community.
He said, “I work with the Latino community, immigrant parents, and a lot of migrant people who work in the fields, so they’re really concerned, they’re scared.”
Government and economics teacher Ms. Axelrad said that she also sees the fear and concern among her own students in class. She said it has made her fearful of policies because it affects the people around her, even if she herself is not at risk.
“I’m feeling a lot of grief, and as a teacher it is especially important that our students feel safe,” she said. “Right now, a lot of students feel unsafe or threatened or discriminated against.”
Ms. Gaston, a math teacher and sports coach who students call Ms. G, said that she is disappointed with how the treatment of immigrants has worsened.
She said, “I think that this country was built off of the backs of people who came here from different countries, and to ignore that or to act as if it wasn’t what made this country what it is is sad and ignorant.”
The fear and frustration that students and staff feel or witness has increased as the new presidential administration has intensified their policies regarding immigrants. Among new executive orders and threats against due process, many people cannot help but feel fear.
For a few of these fearful students, they are now choosing to take a stance against these policies and highlight the good that immigrants do for the country in order to prove their place in the country. They are also highlighting where policies are failing the people.
Ashley said that she feels that especially for Latino immigrants, people forget the weight they pull in the country. She said that the things they do are overlooked and ignored when considering the topic of deporting Latino immigrants.
“Immigrants work our agricultural fields, which is why we have food on the table,” she said. “In general they make so many sacrifices in Latin America just to come to the United States to find better opportunities, all for this country to say you don’t belong here.”
Mr. Estrada also emphasized how immigrants improve the country. He mentioned how in most situations, immigrants are not taking from the country or even receiving government benefits from the work that they do.
“It’s not that they’re getting more from the government,” said Mr. Estrada. “They’re actually contributing to the economy and to Social Security.”
In addition to concerns about the impacts on the country of a loss of immigrants, students and staff also expressed a need for immigration policy to be more humane.
Students like Humanities senior Denise Flores believe that immigration should never split people up without due process.
“I.C.E has certain protocols to take certain people, but they don’t have to take innocent people and separate families,” Denise said.
Ms. Axelrad said that as a teacher in LAUSD, she hopes the district can protect their immigrant students and families and find ways to protect themselves from certain orders in the country.
“I’m hoping that [LAUSD] as a community, has a system that can operate somewhat independently from the federal government,” said Ms. Axelrad.
Mr. Estrada expressed that he feels like in the long run, the important thing to remember is that labeling someone as illegal is the root of the problem.
“In the land of immigrants nobody is an illegal immigrant,” he said. “Especially here in California, everybody’s welcome, or they should be.”
