Low birth rates were emptying public schools. ICE deportations are now making it worse

Kelly Gonez, a longtime school board member in the Los Angeles Unified School District, says public school enrollment declines worsened after ICE raids escalated in the city in 2025. District officials say low birth rates and the loss of immigrant children in classrooms mean school campuses will likely have to close.

School enrollment was already expected to plunge by 2 million kids by 2030. Education experts say deporting immigrant families, many with school-age children, is making the crisis worse.

(Image credit: Carlos Jaramillo for NPR)