Teacher Multicultural Attitude Survey (TMAS)
Category: Teacher and Leader Development
Intensified immigration enforcement activity under the second Trump administration has increased anxiety for immigrants in the United States, including many families with school-age children. This study provides early evidence on the effects of the second Trump presidency on the attendance of students who are likely from immigrant families. Using a difference-in-differences design that compares English learners (ELs) and non-English learners, I find negative effects on the attendance of EL students in both Rhode Island and Connecticut. In Connecticut, average monthly attendance declined by 0.07 standard deviations and chronic absenteeism increased by over half a percentage point. In Rhode Island, daily absences for EL students increased by close to 4%. I present corroborating evidence that anxiety/awareness of enforcement activity, as proxied by data from google searches, relate to increases in absences. Together with other recent work, these findings suggest that immigration enforcement activities under the second Trump presidency are having disruptive effects on students and schools in a variety of settings nationwide.
Keywords
immigration enforcement, immigrants, absences, attendance, K-12 schools
Education level
Document Object Identifier (DOI)
10.26300/vxtn-r577
