The day after President Donald Trump's second inauguration, his administration
ended a policy directing immigration agents not to enter "sensitive locations" like churches, hospitals, and schools. Ypsilanti Community High School (YCHS) Principal Chelsea Harris-Hugan says that change and other Trump immigration policies have YCHS staff, students, and families on edge.
Nearly one-third of YCHS' 600 students are English Learner (i.e. English as a Second Language) students. They speak languages ranging from Spanish and French to Bengali and Swahili, and they come from nations all over the globe.
Harris-Hugan says that, before Ypsilanti Community Schools released an official memo outlining the district's pre-existing policy about dealing with agents from Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE), these students and their families "were really concerned."
"I think they were frightened, with recent orders put in place, that ICE could just come in and start grabbing students," she says. "We really had to reassure them that no, that's not going to happen."
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courtesy YCHSYCHS Principal Chelsea Harris-Hugan.
Harris-Hugan says students are less afraid of ICE in the halls of the high school after YCS Superintendent Alena Zachery-Ross's memo clarified what the school would and wouldn't do if faced with a visit from ICE. The memo noted that the district will not ask families about their immigration status and "will not voluntarily coordinate with ICE."
But students are still terrified that when they get home, their parents might not be there.
YCS is just one of many organizations in the greater Ypsilanti area that has faced new challenges and developed new strategies to respond to rapid changes affecting young immigrants.
"You can feel the anxiety"
Harris-Hugan says a young immigrant student told her she felt safe at school, which made the principal happy to hear. But the students still worry at the end of every school day about what they'll find when they come home.
"You walk into some of these classrooms, and you can feel the anxiety that's there," Harris-Hugan says. "There was one young lady who lived with her aunt, and she said if ICE took her aunt, she would have nowhere to live. Another student talked about how her hands get sweaty and her stomach cramps when she thinks about leaving at the end of the day. She's praying her parents are home when she gets home."
She says standardized testing is hard enough for 11th graders without having national immigration policy on their minds.
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Doug CoombeAssistant manager Lindsay Bohn, manager Tonysha Emerson, and assistant manager Sonya Rougeau at YCHS' food pantry.
"They're sitting in a classroom taking high-stakes tests, when that is the furthest thing from their minds. They're worried about basic needs and if they're going to have a family when they get home," Harris-Hugan says.
Federal immigration policy changes are having a ripple effect on YCHS students' mental health and day-to-day life. Visits to the school's social worker for stress and anxiety are up. So is use of the YCHS pantry, which Harris-Hugan says may need to be expanded, and the school's clothing closet. Harris-Hugan thinks that's because there's a general change in attitudes toward immigrants as well. Students tell her that convenience stores and other places that used to feel homey feel less welcoming now.
Additionally, Harris-Hugan says attendance among English Learner students has been down since January, "simply because a lot of them are afraid to come to school.".
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Doug CoombeYCHS social worker and Grizzly Boutique manager Kimmy Johnson at YCHS' clothing closet.
Shortly after the administration change, Harris-Hugan visited several English Learner classes to tell them to pass on the word to missing classmates that they are welcome to switch to attending school virtually.
"I told them we could provide online services for them, so that they won't miss four solid years of high school because they've been in hiding," she says. "Even if they are sent back to their countries [of origin], you're still able, if you have wifi access and a computer, to complete your schooling online."
"Beyond horrified"
Back-to-back federal policy changes caused whiplash for the
Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC), which has offices in downtown Ypsilanti. On Feb. 18 the Trump administration ordered MIRC and other legal agencies that represent immigrant youth to stop work on a federal program providing legal services to unaccompanied children. The administration then rescinded the stop-work order six days later, on Feb. 24.
In the interim, MIRC offices were in an uproar, trying to find "creative ways to continue our services," says Rebecca Olszewski, managing attorney at MIRC's Ypsilanti office.
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courtesy Rebecca OlszewskiMIRC managing attorney Rebecca Olszewski.
"All of us were beyond horrified," she says.
Olszewski calls MIRC and similar agencies "a buffer."
"We're a type of protection that makes sure the children are safe and in a good place, and we make sure their contact information is up-to-date with immigration," she says.
The stop-work order essentially defunded her staff for those six days, and results weren't pretty. MIRC serves about 800 children annually, and some children went without representation during that period. Information provided by MIRC notes that one study showed "immigration judges were almost 100 times less likely to grant relief to unaccompanied children without counsel than unaccompanied children with counsel."
Olszewski says she once witnessed an expert conducting a legal training with an 8-year-old girl from Haiti.
"She couldn't explain herself very well, and her voice was a whisper because she was so intimidated by the circumstances," Olszewski says. "Without anyone standing at their side, these children could get deported or put in unsafe circumstances that put them at risk for human trafficking or simply being unable to attend future proceedings."
"Have some common decency"
Use of the food pantry and clothes closet have also risen this year at Ypsilanti's
Corner Health Center, mirroring the trend Harris-Hugan has noted at YCHS. The nonprofit serving youth ages 12-25 has had "a long commitment to supporting young people, no matter their background or immigration status," according to Executive Director Alex Plum. He says his organization has seen higher demand for food, baby clothing, baby formula, and diapers.
"And our waitlist is growing for behavioral and mental health services," Plum says. "It's not a long waitlist, but we are seeing demand outstripping supply."
Plum says Corner recently stepped up efforts to serve immigrant youth, especially Spanish-speaking ones, since Spanish is the most prevalent second language among Corner clients. The center has forged partnerships with the statewide organization Mexiquenses Unidos en Michigan and local Latinx health organization
Buenos Vecinos. Plum says Corner consulted with those organizations about how to make immigrants, documented or not, feel welcome.
"We asked them what we needed to do to not only be hospitable, but what policies do we need to change so there aren't barriers for receiving care," Plum says.
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Doug CoombeExecutive Director Alex Plum at Corner Health Center's clothing closet and food pantry.
As a result of that collaboration, Corner has invested more heavily in translation services. The center has always offered these services by phone via the University of Michigan health system. However, about 18 months ago, Corner and Mexiquenses Unidos en Michigan wrote a grant so that an interpreter can be on site at Corner two or three days per week.
"They can provide live, in-person, simultaneous interpretation for young people who don't feel comfortable in English," Plum says.
Corner has also expanded its printed materials available in Spanish. Now, instructions for a breast self-exam and pamphlets about substance use are also available in Spanish.
Asked if there's anything she wants the Ypsilanti community to know about how national policy is affecting local youth, Harris-Hugan says: "Look what it's doing to our students, what it's doing to families. Have some common decency."
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Doug CoombeCorner Health Center's clothing closet and food pantry.
She says current events make it hard for her to talk to students about the Golden Rule of treating people the way you want to be treated.
"As a country, we're not doing that, and it's really heartbreaking to me," she says.
She says she "struggles" with the way politicians and other leaders have portrayed immigrants as if they're all criminals.
"These are kids," she says. "These are kids that want the opportunity to come to school every day and be a part of what's happening and just be kids."
Sarah Rigg is a freelance writer and editor in Ypsilanti Township and the project manager of On the Ground Ypsilanti. She joined Concentrate as a news writer in early 2017 and is an occasional contributor to other Issue Media Group publications. You may reach her at [email protected].
Photos by Doug Coombe.