A Detroit teacher’s firsthand account exposes how immigration enforcement is tearing students from classrooms, forcing educators to become makeshift lawyers and therapists—a crisis reshaping American schools from within.
Kristen Schoettle never expected her role as an English as a Second Language teacher to include daily conversations from a Texas detention center. Yet for over a year, the Detroit educator has been the primary lifeline for four students imprisoned by ICE, navigating legal chaos and inhumane conditions from her classroom. Their story, documented by CNN, is not an anomaly—it’s a stark indicator of how immigration enforcement has infiltrated American schools, turning teachers into first responders for a humanitarian crisis.
The Crackdown Reaches the Classroom
President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has historically targeted workplaces and neighborhoods, but under the current administration, schools—long considered sensitive locations—have increasingly been drawn into the sweep. Schoettle’s experience illustrates this shift. In May 2025, she witnessed a student being handcuffed by immigration agents during a school field trip, a moment she describes as the most emotional of her career. That student, along with three others, would be flown to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas—over 1,500 miles from Detroit.
Schoettle quickly became more than a teacher. She used her own money to purchase phone credits so students could call from detention. They messaged her via Microsoft Teams, the same platform used for schoolwork, pouring out fears and pleas. “I’m afraid I won’t be able to return, miss,” one student wrote in December. “I’m sad…. I don’t want to be here.” Another asked, “Are there people trying to help us? We want to get out of here, teacher.” Schoettle’s responses blended hope with painful uncertainty: “I wish I had news for you! I love you and we are still trying to make something happen. I still have hope, but we need something to happen before your court date in February.”
Conditions Inside Dilley
The students detailed a grim daily routine. Meals were served at fixed times—breakfast at 7 a.m., dinner at 5 p.m.—but the food was often spoiled. They described bugs and mold in meals, disgusting water that people avoided drinking, and exorbitant commissary prices. Illness spread frequently in the crowded facility, a detail reported by CNN. When asked about these conditions, the facility referred to a previous statement asserting it “works every day to ensure the families in their care are safe, healthy and well.”
The psychological toll was evident. Two students unexpectedly bumped into each other in detention—a shocking reunion, since “the place that they should be together, seeing each other, is every day at school. But instead, they’re seeing each other in prison across the country,” Schoettle said. That moment, she noted, “sticks with me.”
The Classroom Transformed
Back in Detroit, empty chairs became constant reminders. Western International High School serves about 1,900 students, roughly one-fifth immigrants and 70% children of immigrants. Schoettle kept her detained students on her roster, marking them absent daily. “They’re still on my roster. I’m still marking them absent,” she said, “and yet, they’re not here.” The atmosphere grew heavy; remaining students feared they could be next.
Schoettle began advising them on practical survival: “How can they protect themselves? Where shouldn’t they go? How can you drive safely?” An estimated 20% of her students this academic year have missed school out of deportation fear. Some sought transfers to virtual programs or requested assignments via Teams. “My classroom used to once be a place of joy and learning English and being with each other, but it’s definitely become more of a place of fear,” she admitted.
A National Movement of Educators
Schoettle is not alone. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT)—the nation’s second-largest teachers’ union—told CNN that thousands of educators are “fearful and outraged” by the crackdown, regardless of political affiliation. “Teachers care about their students and their students’ families,” she said.
In response, the AFT has launched webinars to train teachers on immigration issues, distributed emergency kits with whistles, and circulated “Know Your Rights” literature. Locally, Schoettle, other teachers, parents, and community members have lobbied the school board for safer transportation and legal clinics. Last week, she led a student walkout protesting ICE tactics. “This is not normal,” she told the crowd. “This is our community being terrorized, and we are tired of it.”
Why This Matters: The Erosion of Schools as Safe Havens
The infiltration of immigration enforcement into schools represents a profound shift with lasting consequences:
- Educational Disruption: Attendance declines and learning environments become trauma-informed spaces rather than academic ones. When 20% of students in a single classroom are absent due to fear, the educational mission collapses.
- Psychological Trauma: Children separated from families and peers experience severe stress, with teachers shouldering mental health burdens they are untrained for.
- Erosion of Trust: Schools traditionally serve as safe spaces for immigrant communities. ICE presence shatters that trust, discouraging families from seeking services or reporting crimes.
- Educator Burnout: Teachers like Schoettle are taking on legal, therapeutic, and advocacy roles without compensation or training, risking compassion fatigue.
These impacts disproportionately affect low-income, immigrant-heavy districts like Detroit’s, potentially widening opportunity gaps for years to come.
A Bittersweet Reunion and an Uncertain Future
In early March 2026, the last of Schoettle’s students still in detention—a 17-year-old Venezuelan asylum-seeker—was released. He and two others have returned to Detroit. But the student Schoettle witnessed being handcuffed in May was deported with his family. “It’s crazy to think that I was the last person in the US that he knew, to see him before he left,” she reflected.
With the administration’s policies showing no sign of easing, Schoettle anticipates continued fear. “With the constant threat that still exists in our city and throughout the country, there’s still the constant fear,” she said. Yet her commitment endures: “I want them to know that people want them out. People are fighting for them, and people are going to continue to fight for them. I don’t want them to feel alone.”
The Road Ahead
Schoettle’s story is a microcosm of a national crisis. As immigration enforcement intensifies, schools will remain battlegrounds. The role of educators will continue to expand into uncharted territory, demanding systemic support and policy changes to protect students’ right to education and safety. Without intervention, the classroom will increasingly become a place of anxiety and loss—a reality no teacher or student should endure.
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