Immigrant teachers in the United States are facing fears of deportation and job loss as a result of tough immigration policies under the Trump administration. As schools suffer from teacher shortages, the sudden departure of educators is taking a heavy emotional and educational toll on children. Parents, psychologists and school administrators warn that this uncertainty is damaging classroom stability and students’ mental health.
For the past two years, Susanna’s weekdays have been spent flipping through picture books, organizing her children’s lockers and leading songs in the classroom. But her job as a preschool teacher came to an abrupt end in October when she learned that her request to extend her work permit had been denied. Susanna, who uses a pseudonym in this article for fear of repercussions, is one of the roughly 10 percent of teachers in the United States who are immigrants. As the United States has increasingly sought teachers from abroad to fill shortages in education, some foreign-born teachers say President Donald Trump’s deportation drive has put their livelihoods at risk and risks traumatizing their students.
Susanna, an asylum seeker who fled violence in Guatemala nearly a decade ago, said the loss of her work permit forced her to stop working immediately. She recalls the moment she had to break the news to her students, some of whom were as young as three. Many of them were too young to understand the situation. “Within a week, I lost everything,” Susanna told Al Jazeera in Spanish. “When I said goodbye to the children, they asked me why, and I said, ‘I can only say goodbye!’ Some of the children hugged me, and it broke my heart.”
SEARCH FOR TEACHERS ABROAD
Estimates vary on the number of foreign-born teachers currently working in the U.S. But a 2019 report by George Mason University found that 857.200 of the country’s 8.1 million teachers were immigrants, spanning grades from preschool to college. For the 2023–2024 school year alone, the U.S. government brought in 6.716 full-time teachers through temporary exchange visas to fill gaps in early childhood, elementary, and secondary education.
Many of them came from the Philippines, as well as other countries such as Jamaica, Spain and Colombia. However, the uncertainty over immigrants during Trump’s second term has proven devastating for schools that rely heavily on foreign teachers. One such case is the kindergarten where Susanna worked, CommuniKids, which offers language education programs in Washington, D.C. Its co-founder and president, Raul Echevarria, estimates that immigrants, both U.S. citizens and non-citizens with legal work authorization, make up about 90 percent of CommuniKids’ staff. But Echevarria told Al Jazeera that efforts to eliminate legal immigration pathways have put the employment of some academic staff members at risk.
Five other teachers at the school have seen their right to work affected by changes to the Temporary Protected Status (TPS) program. All five, Echevarria explained, are originally from Venezuela. But in October, the Trump administration ended TPS status for more than 350.000 Venezuelan citizens, including the CommuniKids teachers. Their authorization to work legally in the U.S. will expire on Oct. 2, 2026, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website. “These teachers lost their ability to make a living,” Echevarria said, noting that his school needs educators with expertise in languages such as Spanish, French and Mandarin.
“STRONG CONNECTIONS”
For schools themselves, the losses could be devastating. Every state in the U.S. has reported teacher shortages to the federal government. But activists say high stress and low pay in education make the profession difficult to recruit and retain. That has led some states to look abroad for teachers. In North Carolina, for example, 1.063 foreign nationals worked full-time as elementary school teachers on temporary J-1 visas during the 2023–2024 school year.
The top destinations for these teachers were the southern states: North Carolina was followed by Florida with 996 J-1 teachers and Texas with 761. But Echevarría says some of the biggest consequences of the deportation campaign are being felt by the students themselves. “Our students form very strong bonds with their teachers, and suddenly, overnight, they lose them,” Echevarría said. “Their number one superpower,” he added, “is the ability to empathize and to form strong and effective connections with people from all backgrounds.” But when those connections are severed, the consequences can be serious for mental health and educational progress, especially for younger children.
A 2024 study published by the American Association for Educational Research found that when teachers leave in the middle of the school year, children’s language development suffers a measurable decline. In other words, the loss of a familiar teacher—someone who knows their routines, strengths, and fears—can silently slow a child’s progress. The consequences extend to a child’s emotional stability as well.
CONSEQUENCES FOR MENTAL HEALTH
For parents like Michelle Howell, whose child attends CommuniKids, the loss of teachers has made the classroom environment feel fragile. “The teachers there are not just teachers to these young children,” Howell told CommuniKids. “They are like family. They hug them, they hold them, they do things that a parent would do. When these people are gone, it’s not just hard for the kids. It’s hard for everyone.” Howell, who is Chinese-American, said the sudden departures reminded her of her family’s history.
“I read about things like this happening in China, the country my family fled to find safety,” she said. “It’s very disturbing to know that what we once fled from is our reality today. People disappear.”
School psychologist Maria C, who asked to remain anonymous to protect her work in the Texas public education system, has noticed that the children she works with are struggling greatly due to the uncertainty caused by the deportation campaign. The loss of a loved one or mentor – such as a favorite teacher – can flood a child’s body with cortisol, a hormone that normally protects the body in times of danger, she explained. But when this stress becomes chronic, the same hormone begins to do more harm than good. It interferes with memory, concentration and emotional regulation.
“For some, it manifests as anxiety. For others, it manifests as depression or sudden outbursts,” Maria said. “They’re in a ‘fight or flight’ state all day long.” She added that selective mutism, an anxiety disorder, is on the rise among the children she sees, aged five to 12. “It used to be rare, maybe a case for school,” she said. “Now I see it all the time. It’s a silent symptom of fear.”
PREPARING FOR THE WORST
At CommuniKids, Echevarría explained that he and the staff have prepared contingency plans in case immigration authorities show up at the kindergarten. The goal, he said, is to make both staff and students feel safer coming to school. “We put these steps in writing because we wanted our staff to know that they are not alone,” he said. “We have lawyers on standby. We are working with local police. But above all, our job is to protect the children.” As an extra security measure, teachers are advised to carry their passports or work permits with them.
Even Echevarria, a U.S. citizen born in Virginia, said he always carries his passport with him. The fear of deportation, he said, remains ever-present. “I’m bilingual and of Hispanic descent,” he said. “Given the situation, I want to be able to prove that I’m a citizen if someone ever questions it.” (Al Jazeera)