Denny Sicairos, 5, at a Bakersfield protest against an extensive Border Patrol operation held last week.
Advocates have called upon school leaders to take action to protect immigrants in the wake of an extensive operation by the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol in Kern County last week.
Immigrant families have been afraid to send their students to school in the wake of the extensive operation, some opting to keep them home.
“Students are scared,” said Belen Carrasco, a middle school teacher at Bakersfield City School District, who reported an increase in student absences in her classroom over the last week. Students have told her that Border Patrol agents knocked on their doors, and in one case, detained a parent. Students are asking Carrasco for information on what they should do if agents approach them.
One resident, Samantha Gil, said that her daughter’s immigrant friends at West High School in…
