29 December 2025
By Safura Syed
Contributing Writer
(Veritenews.org) — High school senior Talia Joseph was taking a test at St. Mary’s Academy when she got a call saying that her family members had seen immigration enforcement officers in their neighborhood in Gretna.
Joseph is an American citizen but ever since the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s immigration crackdown has begun in greater New Orleans, she said she has been worried about her family members who are not. Joseph said she has undocumented relatives on both sides of her family. Her father’s family is from Grenada and her mother’s is from Honduras.
“I was just thinking, what if it’s the last time that I see them?” Joseph said. “I found it hard to finish my schoolwork, and I was just spiraling the whole day, just wondering what was going to happen.”
No one in her family was detained that day, but she still worries about what will happen next time.
The immigration sweeps coincided with Joseph’s exams. But when she normally would have been studying, she has been spending much of her time finding resources to help her community. She said she’s looked into food delivery resources for families that are afraid to leave their homes, and legal services to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
Looking out for her community, she said, is just “a part of life.”
Cristiane Rosales-Fajardo, founder of El Pueblo NOLA, said operation “Catahoula Crunch” has taken a toll on student well-being. Older students are finding it hard to focus on exams and college applications, she said.
“Children are enduring a lot of the fear,” Rosales-Fajardo said. And although Joseph feels safe going to school, attendance data suggests that other students may not. Attendance at schools across the area has dropped dramatically since the start of the immigration crackdown. In Jefferson Parish, where 39 percent of students are Hispanic, attendance was almost nine percentage points lower than it was immediately after Thanksgiving break in 2024, according to district data obtained by Verite News. Rates have risen since then, but are still lower than they were last year. In New Orleans, attendance rates across 17 schools, especially those with higher Hispanic populations had also dropped from last school year, data shows.
The drops follow trends seen in Chicago and Charlotte during operations in those cities earlier this year. Although DHS has repeatedly said that it does not target schools, agents have been seen around schools in the greater New Orleans area before and after the operation began. The Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment Friday (Dec. 19) about how actions affect children or schools.
Under a Biden-era rule schools used to be a protected “sensitive location” largely off-limits to immigration agents, but the Trump administration reversed those protections in January. A number of school leaders in the area have said that federal immigration agents will not be allowed into schools unless they have court warrants, but many families in the area are worried about encountering agents on the path between school and home.
“There’s no policy or procedure for when you know there’s a military-style operation in your neighborhood,” said Neil Ranu, an attorney with the Southern Poverty Law Center. “So we’re asking schools to account for the reality of what’s going on and to make accommodations.”
Even children with legal status aren’t attending school, said Angela Ramirez, executive director of youth support group, Puentes New Orleans, given reports of agents detaining citizens and those with legal status.
“Even if these kids were usually or would usually be secure or safe, that’s not the case anymore, and that’s why, even if they have their documents in order, parents don’t want to send them to school,” Ramirez said.
Genesis, a 15-year-old who attends high school in New Orleans, was one of the thousands of students who did not go to school the first week after Thanksgiving break. She prefers to only use her first name for fear of retaliation against her and her family.
Genesis said her mother usually takes her to school. But when the operation began, her mother, who is from Honduras, stopped leaving the house and going to work. Genesis requested instructional materials from teachers, and said school administration was fairly accommodating of her situation. A volunteer started taking her to school two weeks ago, and she was able to submit all the work she had missed to her teachers.
“I do feel way better than I’m now back in school, and I can distract myself,” Genesis said. “I just feel a little better, but I still worry about my mom.”
In the classroom, the difference after Thanksgiving break was obvious, Ramirez said. At one of Puentes’ sessions in a New Orleans school, only three out of 23 enrolled students attended.
“It was evident that they were disengaged and they were concerned and frustrated at the same time,” Ramirez said. “And this is something you can easily assess and you can easily perceive when you walk into a classroom.”
Students and community members who work closely with them have said that they’ve seen an increase in stress and anxiety among young people. Not going to school can take a toll on their mental health and overall learning, Ramirez said.
Genesis’ teachers’ understanding, she said, eased some of her anxiety. The Jefferson Parish school district did not respond to requests for comment on whether they have or will offer alternative, online learning for students missing school. Charter school leaders in Orleans Parish would not speak publicly about alternative learning options. The NOLA Public Schools district did not respond to requests for comment on how the operation has affected students and staff.
The Southern Poverty Law Center and other civil rights groups submitted a letter this week to public school systems in southeast Louisiana asking that they consider offering accommodations for vulnerable students. Those accommodations would include excusing absences for Hispanic students who are afraid to leave their homes and offering online instructional material to make sure they don’t fall behind in school. Ranu, who signed the letter, said the response could be similar to emergency responses that were put in place during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Students who miss extended amounts of school will not only miss out on learning and socialization, but can also end up in legal trouble or expulsion. But districts, Ranu said, have the discretion to excuse absences and save families the trouble of dealing with truancy hearings.
Some students who have stayed home from school for fear of immigration raids have already received warning letters, said Rosales-Fajardo. Verite News obtained a copy of one sent to a student for missing five days of school, sent by the Einstein Charter School network. Einstein did not respond to phone calls with requests for comment.
Ranu said that families shouldn’t panic if they receive a notice in the mail. Some schools, Ranu said, have an automated system for sending out attendance warning letters. Parents should send a note to their child’s school to explain that they fear for their safety, he said.
This article originally published in the December 29, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.