Problem Statement & Research Goals

Problem Statement 

In 2025, Los Angeles became a central target of intensified federal immigration enforcement. Early in the year, the Trump administration rescinded the 2021 policy that had restricted enforcement in sensitive locations such as schools, healthcare facilities, places of worship, and public gatherings, a reversal that heightened uncertainty and fear across immigrant communities (NAFSA, 2025). This shift is especially consequential in Los Angeles County, where nearly 2 million residents are either undocumented or living with undocumented family members, including 123,000 children under age five who have at least one undocumented parent. Youth are particularly vulnerable: 55% of U.S. citizens living with undocumented family members are 17 or younger, meaning immigration enforcement directly affects large numbers of school-aged children (USC Equity Research Institute, 2025). Amid these vulnerabilities, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity expanded in both scale and visibility, particularly in residential and economic hubs that sustain undocumented workers.

This escalation was reflected in a series of targeted enforcement actions, most notably the repeated raids at the Westlake Home Depot and the large-scale operation at the Fashion District’s Ambiance Apparel site in June 2025. Both locations sit within neighborhoods where Latino immigrant workers live, commute, and depend on long-standing community networks. Enforcement in these everyday spaces disrupts far more than workplaces—it destabilizes family routines, interrupts transportation patterns, and undermines parents’ confidence that their children can safely travel to and from school.

These disruptions are particularly alarming given the well-documented consequences of missed school. Students who are chronically absent, defined as missing 10% or more of the school year are significantly more likely to fall behind academically, experience lower graduation rates, and disengage from school altogether (Institute of Education Sciences, n.d.). For children in immigrant and mixed-status families, these risks are compounded by legal precarity, economic instability, and heightened fear during periods of enforcement surges.

In this context, a critical question emerges: Do localized immigration enforcement events contribute to changes in student absenteeism, particularly increases in excused absences that may reflect fear-based precautionary decisions rather than truancy? Understanding this relationship is essential for assessing how immigration policy and enforcement practices can indirectly, but profoundly, affect students’ educational stability and well-being.

Research Goals

• Analyze ICE arrest patterns, including temporal trends, demographic characteristics, location-specific enforcement, and apprehension methods to contextualize how enforcement intensified during this period.
• Identify whether the June 2025 spike in ICE arrests corresponds with measurable changes in student absenteeism at schools located near the Los Angeles Westlake Home Depot and Fashion District/Ambiance Apparel June raid sites.
• Situate LA’s 2025 enforcement patterns within the broader political context, recognizing how federal rhetoric and targeted operations may amplify fear in immigrant communities and shape family behavior related to school attendance.