When an immigrant family lives with fear of detention, deportation, or family separation, that fear does not always stay at home. Many times, it follows children into school, their daily routines, and their emotional development.
For many immigrant students, school should be a place of stability. However, when immigration-related fear becomes part of everyday life, it can affect their concentration, sleep, behavior, and overall sense of safety.
In some immigration cases, psychological evaluations for immigration can help document the emotional impact that a difficult immigration situation has had on a child, adolescent, or family. These evaluations do not replace legal work. However, they can provide relevant clinical information for people who are seeking to adjust or stabilize their immigration status in the U.S., as well as for immigration attorneys who collaborate with mental health professionals on their cases.
Important note: This is not legal advice. For specific decisions, it is best to consult with your immigration attorney.
When immigration fear reaches school
School is not only a place where children learn academic subjects. It is also a space for relationships, routine, belonging, and emotional development.
That is why, when an immigration situation disrupts a family’s life, school may stop feeling like a safe place. A child may be physically present in the classroom, but emotionally worried about what could happen to their mother, father, siblings, or caregivers.
As a result, immigration-related fear can affect not only a student’s emotional well-being, but also the way they learn, connect with others, and participate in the school community.
School as a safe space for children and adolescents
For many immigrant children and adolescents, school represents one of the few stable routines in a life marked by change, relocation, legal processes, or cultural adjustment.
In episode 5 of Impacto Migrante, Carla Parola speaks with Diana de León, a psychologist, Montessori guide, and disability specialist, about the impact that fear, family separation, and immigration-related stress can have on children, adolescents, and families. This episode helps us look at immigrant childhood from a broader perspective: not only legal, but also emotional, educational, and family-centered.
From both a clinical and educational perspective, school can also serve as a protective space when it offers predictability, available adults, and trusting relationships. However, for that to happen, institutions need to understand that immigration-related fear can influence behavior and learning.
For this reason, talking about mental health in immigrant children also means talking about trauma-informed schools, communication with families, and professional support.
What happens when that space is also associated with fear
When school becomes associated with fear, surveillance, or possible family separation, a child may begin to experience that space from a state of alert.
This does not mean that all immigrant children will react in the same way. However, some may become quieter, more irritable, distracted, or emotionally shut down. Others may fear that their parents will not come back to pick them up, or that immigration news could change their lives from one moment to the next.
In addition, when a child hears conversations about ICE, detentions, or deportations, they may interpret those topics through their own stage of development. They often do not understand every legal detail, but they do notice tension, silence, and worry in the adults around them.
For this reason, it is important not to minimize what they feel. Saying “nothing is happening” may increase confusion if the child can sense that something is happening. Instead, a clear, brief, and age-appropriate explanation can help reduce uncertainty.
The emotional impact of immigration detention on immigrant children
Immigration detention can have a deep emotional impact on families. For children and adolescents, that impact can be even more complex because they are in a stage of development where they depend on caregivers to feel safe.
In addition, when a detention happens unexpectedly or becomes a constant threat, a child may experience anxiety, sadness, fear, anger, or difficulty trusting adults.
The American Academy of Pediatrics has noted that detention and family separation can expose children to toxic stress, with possible short- and long-term effects on their physical and emotional health. (Source: American Academy of Pediatrics)
Beyond the news: what the Tempe case shows us
Local media recently reported the case of Margoth Paredes Ortiz and her son, Dilan Manay Paredes, a 14-year-old eighth grade student at Cecil Shamley School in Tempe, Arizona. According to the complaint, the mother was detained by ICE along with her two older children in the parking lot of a Walmart. Hours later, while in custody, she was reportedly taken to the school to formally withdraw Dilan from campus. (Source: Univisión)
Beyond the legal details of the case, the situation raised concern because it happened in connection with a school environment and during the final week of classes. For a child or adolescent, school is not only an academic setting. It can also represent routine, belonging, relationships, and important moments of transition.
In this case, Dilan missed his middle school graduation ceremony because he and his mother were transferred to an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas, while his two older siblings remained detained in Arizona. A school ceremony may seem like an everyday event, but for many students it represents an achievement, the closing of one chapter, and an opportunity to celebrate with family. (Source: Telemundo Arizona)
That is why, when an immigration situation abruptly interrupts a child’s school life, the impact can go beyond the immigration case itself. It can also affect the child’s emotional stability, sense of safety, and connection to school, family, and community.
In addition, the response from students and civil groups in Tempe shows that these cases do not only affect the family directly involved. They can also create fear, uncertainty, and concern among other children, parents, and immigrant communities who may wonder whether something similar could happen to them. (Source: Telemundo Arizona)
In this sense, the case opens the door to a broader conversation: what happens emotionally when immigration-related fear enters spaces that should feel safe for children, such as school?
Anxiety, hypervigilance, and difficulty concentrating
Immigration-related fear can affect a child’s or adolescent’s ability to concentrate. If their mind is focused on whether a family member could be detained, deported, or separated from the family, paying attention in class may become difficult.
In addition, some children may develop hypervigilance. This means they are constantly alert to signs of danger, even when there is no immediate threat. They may startle easily, scan their surroundings, or feel unsafe in spaces where they previously felt calm.
The Migration Policy Institute has noted that fear of immigration enforcement may be connected to the mental health and school engagement of Latino students. In its research, many students reported fear that someone close to them could be arrested or deported. (Source: Migration Policy Institute)
As a result, school performance may be affected not because of a lack of ability, but because of an emotional burden that makes it harder to learn, remember, and participate.
Changes in sleep, the body, and behavior
Immigration-related stress can also show up in the body. Some children may experience headaches, stomachaches, fatigue, changes in appetite, or difficulty sleeping.
Behavior may also change. A child who was once calm may become irritable. Another may become more dependent on caregivers or afraid to separate from them. In adolescents, distress may appear as anger, isolation, poor school performance, or emotional disconnection.
Families and schools may not notice these changes right away as signs of stress. However, they may be ways in which the body and mind are trying to respond to a constant sense of threat.
That is why it is important to observe changes with care and without judgment. The question should not only be, “Why is this child acting this way?” It should also be, “What might this child be feeling or going through?”
Fear of family separation as a traumatic experience
For a child, the possibility of being separated from a mother, father, or primary caregiver can feel like a direct threat to their safety. Even when separation does not happen, the constant fear of it can affect emotional well-being.
The National Child Traumatic Stress Network explains that traumatic separation in immigrant and refugee children may be associated with symptoms of anxiety, depression, and traumatic stress. It also notes that the relationship with caregivers is essential to a child’s sense of safety, trust, and stability. (Source: The National Child Traumatic Stress Network)
In addition, when a separation happens suddenly, a child may not have time to understand what is happening. This can lead to confusion, guilt, intense fear, or a sense of abandonment.
In these cases, emotional support is essential. The goal is not to force a child to talk, but to offer a safe space where they can express what they feel at their own pace.
How families and schools can provide support
Families cannot always control what happens within an immigration process. However, they can take steps to emotionally support children and adolescents.
First, it is important to speak with them clearly and in an age-appropriate way. They do not need to know every legal detail, but they do need to know who will care for them, which adults are available, and what plan exists in case of an emergency.
In addition, keeping stable routines whenever possible can help. Mealtimes, sleep schedules, school, and activities can give children a sense of structure during uncertain times.
Schools can also support children by creating trauma-informed environments. This includes trusted adults, careful communication with families, and understanding when emotional or behavioral changes appear.
It is also important to avoid unnecessary exposure to rumors, stigmatizing comments, or messages that increase fear. The way adults talk about immigration can directly influence how children interpret their own safety.
The role of therapeutic support in immigrant families
Therapeutic support can help children, adolescents, and families process fear, organize what they have experienced, and rebuild emotional stability.
In some cases, a psychological evaluation for immigration can document symptoms such as anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, sleep difficulties, behavioral changes, or emotional impact related to family separation. This documentation may be useful in certain immigration cases, always in collaboration with the immigration attorney.
For immigration attorneys, working with mental health professionals trained in trauma, childhood, and migration can provide a clinical perspective that complements the legal strategy. This collaboration can help explain how an immigration-related experience affected a person’s emotional, family, and school life.
Finally, seeking support does not mean that a family is weak. On the contrary, it can be a form of protection. When an immigrant family receives support, children may feel less alone, more understood, and safer during a difficult process.
