As the U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) sweeps the state of Indiana in partnership with Governor Mike Braun, deporting hundreds of people daily, this reality is setting in for the students at SHS.
“It’s all so new and it’s changed so quickly that I think schools in general are struggling to just kind of figure it out and keep up with what we can do to support kids and analyze the kind of effects,” Assistant Principal John Morse said.
Because of the rapid flow of news going around, many students fear what could happen to them, with some even feeling unsafe on school grounds because of the recent events.
At SHS, the biggest impact can be seen within the Hispanic community. Students and teachers both saw changes after the 2024 election, with many Hispanic students not showing up the following year.
“I got a little worried for some of our students… I was fearful that the first couple weeks of school we would not see as many students,” FACS teacher Mildred Delgado said. “Which happened to be the case, I know a lot of students were not coming to school and were fearful of potential things that could happen.”
For Hispanic students, this is the harsh reality. Even documented students have felt the impact firsthand.
“I know some of my friends are undocumented, and they’re scared to come to school because they don’t know what could happen any day from now,” an anonymous source said in Spanish
In the past six months, since Donald Trump has taken office, Indiana has detained over 1,400 immigrants. Documented or undocumented, Hispanic students share the same fear.
“It was always my dream to come here (to the U.S) but now because of immigration and things like that, I’m a little spooked… ” another anonymous source said in Spanish. “Sometimes I wanna go back but there’s a lot of opportunities here in the United States so I also don’t.”
Regardless of status, administration at SHS urges students to attend school, clarifying that students of any background have the right to the same education.
“SHS has their own legal counsel that we use to navigate tough situations, reiterating that school is the best place for kids to be no matter their background or ethnicity… students can be confident that they’re safe to come to school,” Morse said.
