ICE and The Death of the Rural School District

The high visibility of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids and anti-ICE protests in cities such as Los Angeles, New York City, Chicago, and Denver has drawn the attention of national media to these major urban areas. Meanwhile, largely unnoticed, small, rural communities in the Midwest have been slowly and silently collapsing. School districts across America’s agricultural belt have already been struggling with Trump-era cuts and are now finding their populations are being decimated both by fear of and actual abduction by federal agents.

Rising tensions across the state culminated this week in the largest ICE raid to date on a meat-packing plant in Omaha. While these targeted immigrant attacks have obvious, significant, and disastrous consequences for agriculture and industry, they ultimately end up disproportionately affecting Nebraska students and Nebraska schools. In Omaha, immigrants comprise 10% of Nebraska’s population, but nearly 14% of the student population. In smaller, more rural school districts with a larger agricultural workforce, the immigrant student population can get as high as 85%.

Causing disarray and disorder in such a critical demographic to Nebraska school districts throws gasoline on a fire already smoldering across the state. Nebraska school districts have been on the verge of collapse for years, and this growing crisis may be the breaking point that finally sends them over the edge. Between the largest school district, Omaha Public Schools, with an enrollment of 52,000 students, and its smallest, Loup County Public Schools, with an enrollment of 89, Nebraska has hundreds of small towns with populations under 10,000.  In these rural communities, where the tax base is insufficient, state and federal funding is their lifeblood. 

Although these towns are small, they are vital to America’s agricultural industry. They often have a Latino population above 40% and as high as 70%. This is a vulnerable demographic that is prone to school absenteeism even in the best of times. Whether due to fear of actual deportation or simply the fear of being mistakenly detained, as ICE targets this population, students will stop attending school. When students do not come to school, schools cannot afford to stay open, much less pay and retain the highly qualified staff needed to serve their diverse populations. In small, underfunded schools like those in rural Nebraska, any drop in student attendance can be a fatal blow.

And it’s not just the students ICE is scaring away. School districts across Nebraska are facing a surge in teacher resignations. One school district in Schuyler, one of America’s major meatpacking towns, has experienced over 50 teacher resignations in the past year. Districts like these require intensive dual-language programs with highly trained and specialized teachers. 

As teaching is increasingly viewed as a challenging and hazardous job that few want to undertake, Nebraska’s districts have been compelled to search internationally for qualified dual-language teachers. Once again, immigrants step into those jobs Americans don’t want to do. Except in this case, rather than benefiting from their labor, Americans are directly bearing the financial burden. Sponsoring work visas for international teachers is expensive and time-consuming; yet Nebraska’s schools can’t function without them. 

Although it has been challenging to bring international teachers to Nebraska, at least this option has been available. If the Trump administration continues these mafioso-style hits on immigrants, even this source of teachers may dry up for Nebraska. Without teachers, meat-packers, or agricultural workers, Nebraska’s population will soon have nowhere to go.

This assault on Omaha has brought Omaha into America’s consciousness this week. However, these issues are not unique to Nebraska. Approximately 60 million Americans reside in rural areas, where school districts struggle to fund, find, and retain staff. As immigrant and migrant workers flee ICE enforcement, the subsequent declining student enrollment will reduce school funding. As skilled dual-language and ESL teachers quit, staffing costs will continue to rise. 

Donald Trump and his militant assault on our nation’s immigrant factory and agricultural workers will result in the annihilation of rural school districts across America. Rural conservatives often complain that no one in the cities sees them. Unfortunately for them, Trump isn’t ignoring them. He’s going to destroy them. 

Sarah Underbrink has taught in classrooms and worked as an instructional coach for almost twenty years in educational settings ranging from alternative schools to 5A high schools to elementary schools. A great principal once told her the only decision that matters in education is doing what’s best for kids, and she’s held that value in her heart ever since. Currently, she lives in Colorado, raising two young boys, and is still trying to do work that matters.