Some families with students in Aurora Public Schools are worried they could be vulnerable to federal immigration enforcement, according to several community leaders who say that some schools have seen low attendance in recent days.
The fears come as the administration of Republican President Donald Trump fulfills his campaign promise to dramatically escalate enforcement against undocumented people, particularly in Aurora, the state’s third-biggest city, which Trump has targeted by name based on exaggerated or false information about migrant criminal activity.
The school district acknowledged student fears in a message it sent to school families Monday.
“Over the past week, we have heard that families may be concerned about sending students to school in light of recent changes to immigration enforcement that were announced,” the message said. “Please know that our schools are safe places for all students and families.”
Remarking on the message in a post on Facebook, Debbie Gerkin, a member of the Aurora school board, wrote, “We are prepared, but our stomachs are in a collective knot as we care for our students, families, and staff.”
The message might have failed to reassure some families. Bryan Lindstrom, a history teacher at Hinkley High School in Aurora, said attendance at the school is down.
“Our attendance is dramatically reduced in the last 10 days,” Lindstrom said Thursday. “Their parents are keeping them home because they don’t feel safe.”
The school’s student population is majority Latino, he said.
“The fear I am seeing and hearing in students is something I’ve never seen before,” said Lindstrom, who has taught at the school for 10 years. Lindstrom ran as a Democrat last year to represent House District 36 in the Colorado Legislature.
Messages to Aurora schools spokespeople were not returned Thursday.
Linnea Reed-Ellis, president of the Aurora Education Association, a teachers union, said some student families were concerned about coming to school, but she had not heard that attendance was significantly lower than usual.
Crystal Murillo, an Aurora City Council member and executive director of Colorado People’s Alliance, which supports immigrant justice, said she’s heard that classrooms at multiple Aurora schools across all grade levels have seen unusually low attendance in recent days, a phenomenon that’s being reported by teachers, paraeducators and even kitchen staff, she said.
“They’re very aware their classrooms are halfway empty,” Murillo said.
Contacted by Newsline, state Sen. Iman Jodeh and state Rep. Mandy Lindsay, Democrats who represent parts of Aurora, said they’ve also heard that attendance at the city’s schools is down.
According to district policy, school leaders will protect students and their information from federal inquiries, and immigration officers will be refused entry to schools unless they have a judicial warrant.
Aurora became a focus of the national debate on immigration last year after some Republican city officials amplified exaggerated and false claims, later repeated by President Donald Trump, that members of a Venezuelan gang had taken over parts of the city.
During a campaign rally in the city in October, Trump, in front of a backdrop that said “deport illegals now,” again used debunked gang takeover rhetoric and dubbed his immigration enforcement plan Operation Aurora.
“We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country,” Trump said at a campaign rally in September. “And we’re going to start with Springfield (Ohio) and Aurora.”
On Sunday, federal law enforcement agents took almost 50 people, including many who were undocumented, into custody during a raid in Adams County. As of Thursday evening, details about the identities of the detainees, where they were held and whether any were charged with crimes had not been released.