ICE Raids Cause CA Cities School Attendance Drop

January 5, 2026

Federal Agency human trafficking abductions are an attack on public education, healthcare and housing for our communities.

Public funding for California schools is tied to average daily attendance. The research data and testimony from school administrators throughout the state point to the urgency of the matter as our local social infrastructures are being threatened by unlawful Federal activity terrorizing the people.

Various studies confirm correlation
between decline in attendance and ICE raids

Resulting from January ICE raids alone, a Stanford study on students from Bakersfield, Fresno, Kerman, Southern Kern and Tehachapi school districts calculated more than 81,000 days of instruction lost over just two months in those districts.

The Stanford study noted that the effect is most noticeable among the youngest students. According to the study, Latino pre-K attendance dropped 30 percent, elementary grades fell by 27 percent.

The UCLA report notes a 10% attendance drop among immigrants students and many parents being forced to shelter in their homes to avoid encounters with ICE agents in the streets and some students missing school because families did not want to leave younger siblings at home alone.

Adult Education instructors have informed Stand With Students that overall attendance in Adult Education schools has dropped a whopping 30% in CA since the ICE abductions ramped up in 2025.

It’s not just that these kidnappings and threats of abductions cause harm to funding of schools, but they intensify demand for child‑welfare and mental‑health support. Many school staff have had to deal with heightened anxiety and fears for the safety of their students and their parents as well.

While schools have scrambled to respond, career-politician leaders of municipalities consistently fail to address community safety and enforcement of law.