Schools Are Going Underground to Avoid Trump’s Immigration Dragnet
No matter the strategy, the goal is the same: avoid potential federal audits, funding cuts, and closures.
By Jo Napolitano , The19th/The74
PublishedJuly 6, 2025
FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images
Truthout is an indispensable resource for activists, movement leaders and workers everywhere. Please make this work possible with a quick donation.
Schools and other organizations serving undocumented students are taking their activities underground, fearful of revealing all they do to help newcomers navigate life in America — lest they be targeted and shuttered by the Trump administration.
Some have asked staff to use secure messaging systems like Signal instead of text and email to keep sensitive conversations from public reach. Others say such discussions should happen only over the phone.
A few are reconsidering the distribution of once-standard know-your-rights cards, afraid they could overstep some unclear federal boundary about immigration enforcement, while others are scrubbing the names and locations of their sites from the internet.
No matter the strategy, the goal is the same: avoid federal audits, funding cuts and closures that could be prompted by their work with undocumented students and families, but also the administration’s edict against diversity, equity and inclusion.
“Because of the threats from the federal administration about revoking the 501(c)(3) status of nonprofits, we want to keep ourselves from being targeted,” said one man who asked not to be identified because he works for an organization that serves undocumented youth.
https://truthout.org/articles/schools-are-going-underground-to-avoid-trumps-immigration-dragnet/
