Immigrant Parents Fear ICE Will Take Action at Local Schools

Immigrant support organizations, who wished to remain unnamed due to concerns of being targeted, throughout Rhode Island and southeastern Massachusetts say they’ve received a large number of calls and messages from parents who are concerned that their children may be apprehended by ICE either at school or on the way to and from their schools.

Officials from school districts in the region said it was too soon to confirm whether attendance has gone down. But Helena DaSilva Hughes of the Immigrants’ Assistance Center in New Bedford says she’s heard from teachers in Fall River and New Bedford who are seeing a noticeable drop in attendance.

“They’re afraid of everything right now. I mean, that’s why I think that what this will create is this – these families will go further underground,” DaSilva Hughes said. “And they are not going to be calling the police if there’s anything that happens to them, or if they get robbed.”

This story was reported by The Public’s Radio. You can read the entire story here.