Immigrant Student Enrollment Is Dwindling At Schools Across The U.S.

Source: Huff Post/AP

Nov 17, 2025, 12:17 AM EST


From Miami to San Diego, schools around the U.S. are seeing big drops in enrollment of students from immigrant families. In some cases, parents have been deported or voluntarily returned to their home countries, driven out by President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown. Others have moved elsewhere inside the U.S.

In many school systems, the biggest factor is that far fewer families are coming from other countries. As fewer people cross the U.S. border, administrators in small towns and big cities alike are reporting fewer newcomer students than usual. In Miami-Dade County Public Schools, about 2,550 students have entered the district from another country so far this school year — down from nearly 14,000 last year, and more than 20,000 the year before that.

School board member Luisa Santos, who attended district schools herself as a young immigrant, said the trend is “a sad reality.” “I was one of those arrivals when I was 8 years old,” Santos said. “And this country and our public schools — I’ll never get tired of saying it — gave me everything.”

Collectively, the enrollment declines in Miami-Dade erased about $70 million from the district’s annual budget, forcing administrators to scramble to cover the unexpected shortfall.

Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/us-education-immigrant-students_n_691aacc5e4b085766d7dd32c