Kids with sand still in their sneakers and sunburns on the back of their necks shouldered their backpacks and marched off to the first day of school this week.
On a picture-perfect September morning, the Island’s public schools threw open their doors Tuesday to start the academic year, as Island Writer Sarah Shaw Dawson writes beautifully in our News pages. But for those parents, teachers, and administrators paying close attention, there were some students who were noticeably absent.
Immigrant families, most of them from Brazil, have been faced with agonizing choices as to whether or not to stay on the Island and risk the raids by masked agents of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who carried out a series of arrests and deportations over the spring as part of the Trump administration’s aggressive policies targeting immigrants.
Parents fear being separated from their children, so school administrators, teachers, and immigrant advocates say they are seeing a decrease in the immigrant population in the schools, which had grown to a steady 20 percent who speak Brazilian Portuguese as a first language in the home. In some schools, such as Tisbury School, the number had climbed to an estimated 40 percent.
The early indication from administrators is that there is a steep decline in new immigrants this fall who are entering their children for the first time into the schools. In the high school, there was an average of about 20 new students enrolling each year. In the lower grades, in the earliest levels of the English language learning (ELL) programs, there were two full classes, or about 30 students, who arrived as new immigrant students last year. This year, school officials say, there are no new immigrant students showing up at the high school, and as of this first week of class, it appears there are none in the earliest level of the ELL program.
“Overall there is a feeling of insecurity,” said Carlos Trindade, a World Languages and ELL teacher at the M.V. Regional High School, who has been recognized for his excellence in working with immigrant students and who has worked to help to guide high school seniors who arrived as immigrants enroll in college.
“People are just not sure what is going to happen. Things are just so unpredictable,” he added.
Stepped-up enforcement at the Southern border has curtailed the flow of undocumented immigrants coming in through Mexico, and for those who are here with documentation or awaiting court dates to try to obtain legal immigrant status, there is a lot of worry, and many are slipping back into the shadows here on the Island and across the country.
It looks as if the trend in schools is also reflected in the Island workforce, where Brazilians and immigrants from elsewhere have taken up jobs in landscaping, carpentry, house cleaning, and restaurants. It is hard to come up with reliable statistics on this trend, but there are anecdotal stories you can hear at every turn on the Island. Local contractors report losing trusted, talented carpenters and roofers who have decided to either head back home to their native countries or push on to other countries, such as Canada, where immigrants appear to be more welcome.
Nationally, the numbers are starting to show a trend. Since the start of a second Trump administration, an estimated 1.2 million immigrants have left the U.S. workforce, contributing to a recent decline in the overall labor pool, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center. Economists believe this drop is directly tied to more aggressive enforcement, and marks the first time there has been a decline in the immigrant population since the 1960s, according to Pew.
There is no question that all of us who live and work here on the Island could be deeply affected by this demographic shift. Across the country, economists have warned that a sustained reduction in the immigrant labor force could pose challenges for the U.S. economy, and could lead to slower economic expansion.
Putting partisan politics aside, we all need to watch these trends carefully to see how they impact the vibrant culture and hard work that so many immigrants have brought to the Island. The boisterous first day of school is always a joyful thing to see, but let’s be mindful of what might be happening in the quiet shadows for immigrant families who are struggling with difficult choices. These are often neighbors and friends. They are people who in many cases work alongside us, or in other cases may work for us in the trades, or at restaurants or in hair salons or landscaping companies. They have come here to seek a better life, a story that defines the entire birth narrative of America, which is enshrined in the beacon of light from the torch held on high by the Statue of Liberty.
Let’s be sure, as these immigration policy reforms play out under the Trump administration, to always do our best as a community to be good neighbors and friends to the many immigrants who call this Island home.
