How LA Unified is trying to protect immigrant families during Trump’s ongoing crackdown

As the Trump administration has ratcheted up immigration enforcement, school districts across the country have rallied to support students and families without legal status. But perhaps none more so than Los Angeles Unified.

The nation’s second largest school district — under the guidance of Superintendent Alberto Carvalho, himself formerly an immigrant living in the country illegally – has emerged as a national model for how school districts can help families gripped by fear.

“I think L.A. Unified is at the top of the list for folks looking at what schools are doing right now,” said Sophia Rodriguez, associate professor at New York University who’s studied the topic. “We’re seeing individual teachers and schools push back, but this effort cannot fall on the backs of heroic educators. It has to happen at the district level, like L.A. Unified.”

L.A. Unified catapulted itself to the forefront of the issue within days of Trump’s election in November. At its first school board meeting after the election, the board unanimously passed a resolution vowing to protect students from immigration enforcement on campuses. Since then, the district has rolled out a slew of other services: a 24-hour hotline for families seeking help; a “compassion fund” to help families facing economic emergencies; free legal assistance through local nonprofits; online and in-person workshops addressing immigrants’ legal rights; and a virtual academy for students who’re afraid to leave the house due to the risk of deportation.

Families can get red cards outlining their legal rights in case they’re detained, as well as mental health counseling and medical care at 19 wellness centers located on school campuses. The district also encourages families to create emergency plans in case a parent is detained.

Those moves are in addition to statewide efforts to keep schools safe. Guidance from Democratic Attorney General Rob Bonta reminded schools that immigration officers need a judicial warrant before entering a school campus. Gov. Gavin Newsom, also a Democrat, last week signed a bill that prevents school staff from disclosing information about students or their families to immigration authorities without a judicial warrant. He also signed a bill requiring schools to notify families and the community when immigration officials are on campus.

Outspoken superintendent

These steps are helpful, advocates said, but Carvalho’s outspoken defense of immigrant families might be even more powerful. At a time when some civic leaders are shying away from controversy, Carvalho has repeatedly spoken out and made clear that protecting immigrant students is a priority.

“As a proud American by choice — not by chance — and as a formerly undocumented immigrant, it is my compelling moral responsibility, as well as professional responsibility, to protect all children,” Carvalho said at a recent panel on immigration. “On the sidewalks of America, we don't have some reserved for immigrants and others for everybody else. Everybody walks the same sidewalk of hope and opportunity. … The day we abandon that we might as well bring down the arm of Lady Liberty, extinguish the flame, and tell everyone, ‘I'm sorry, America's democracy is closed.’”

An immigrant from Portugal, Carvalho was living illegally in the country for his first few years in the United States in the 1980s. He had moved to the U.S. alone after he graduated from high school, in hopes of escaping poverty and finding more opportunities for education and a career, according to a New York Times profile. While living on the East Coast, he struggled with housing and the fear of deportation, but eventually obtained a student visa and went on to become a high school science teacher in Florida and gain citizenship. He served as superintendent of Miami-Dade County Public Schools before taking over at Los Angeles Unified in 2021.

Carvalho’s words are important, particularly amid the current political climate, said

Mayra Lara, Southern California director of partnerships and engagement at the research and advocacy nonprofit EdTrust West. Lara was once a student living in the country illegally in Los Angeles Unified and later worked as a high school English teacher in the district.

“I’ve been impressed with what the district has done, but the superintendent has been especially vocal,” Lara said. “Having a leader who has the courage to speak out makes an incredible difference.”

Mayra Lara, director of Southern California partnerships and engagement for EdTrust-West, in Long Beach on Sept. 15, 2025.

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Zaydee Sanchez

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CalMatters

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Students living in the country illegally often feel isolated, afraid to reveal their stories for fear of deportation, she said. Lara felt school, especially English class, was a safe place where she could be herself.

“School saved me. That’s why it’s so important that schools do what they can to help families right now,” Lara said. “All school districts should be doing what LAUSD is doing.”

Effect on enrollment

Like all school districts in California, Los Angeles Unified doesn’t ask students about their immigration status. But immigrant rights groups estimate that about 1 in 5 students, or 76,000, in the district come from mixed-status families, meaning that at least one parent lacks legal status.

Enrollment this year has dipped, in part due to the immigration crackdown, Carvalho said. Some families have moved away and some are keeping their children home from school. Attendance has also faltered as raids have increased. That’s led the district to send staff — including the superintendent — to visit 2,000 students’ homes and call more than 14,000 families to assure them that their children are safe at school.

The district has created so-called safe passages to school: volunteers who escort children to and from school for parents who are afraid to leave their homes.

Still, the district can do more, said Maria Miranda, vice president of United Teachers Los Angeles, the teachers union. More outreach to families, so they know what’s available to them, and larger zones around campuses monitored by volunteers, should be a priority, she said. The union would also like to see a stronger alert system to notify parents of nearby immigration enforcement activities, as well as more school staff available to assist students who immigrated to the U.S. alone.

“I think it’s great the superintendent supports students and the district deserves credit,” Miranda said, noting that the union has long pushed for these measures. “It’s been beautiful to see the community come together to protect our democracy. … It’s not OK for students to go into hiding and therefore not have access to school.”

‘My job is to teach kids’

Rodriguez, who teaches at NYU’s Steinhardt School, has extensively researched schools and immigration. She’s not surprised Los Angeles Unified has been a leader in supporting students after immigration enforcement spiked in Los Angeles. Public schools in Chicago, where Trump has recently ordered an immigration crackdown, have also taken extra measures to protect families.

But even school districts in conservative areas have taken steps to protect immigrant students, Rodriguez said. Their superintendents might not be as outspoken, and they might use different terminology and strategies, but the services and commitment to students’ welfare are there, she said.

Patricia Gandara, an education professor at UCLA, agrees.

“Our research has shown that superintendents in red states might be thinking, ‘I don’t disagree with Trump’s policies, but my job is to teach kids,’” Gandara said. “In general, superintendents everywhere are far more concerned about their undocumented students than you’d imagine.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.