President Donald Trump has signed many executive orders within his first few weeks of being president. One of them being the Executive Order (EO) 14159, which means to protect the American people from invasion. According to 6ABC, there has been a daily average of 973 arrests made. I have seen many posts online of students not going to school due to the worry and anxiety of their family members being deported. Some students even have to go to therapists due to the stress. 

As a family member of immigrants, it’s been hard on me mentally. It feels like we’re being hunted down. I’ve never really been interested in watching the news about immigration but when I heard about the many executive orders President Donald Trump had signed, it brought tears to my eyes. 

A few days ago, Donald Trump ordered that ICE officials will be able to enter sanctuary places, such as schools and churches. Places where immigrants thought were safe are now places where they can be detained. A study from the National Health Institute (NIH) found that kids who live in undocumented households have a higher chance of having depression and or stress, which can also cause separation anxiety issues due to the fear of not coming home to their families. 

While many parents keep their children home due to them not wanting to be separated, many students still take the risk and continue to go to school knowing about everything going on because they simply cannot hide forever, and need to continue their education. Many public school districts have also been protecting immigrant students and their families from ICE.  These ICE raids have affected many students, of all backgrounds and political parties, that have a loved one who has immigrated here. Students with immigrant parents, for example, are scared to tell people that their parents are immigrants or they have immigrant family members. 

Me, being one of those people, makes me feel as though I’m in a position where I do not know what to do. And unfortunately, I know many students can relate to this. 

My thoughts about everything going on are just all over the place. My heart is shattered knowing that many students and children share the same feelings, but more similarly, the fears that I do; like being scared to go out and come home to an empty house because immigration could have taken your family. Many people who immigrate to the United States believe it or not have been here for many years, probably more than half of their lives. It breaks my heart knowing how scared these people must be.

People immigrate to the United States to find a better life, so many immigrants in the United States work very hard to maintain themselves and their families and to make their families’ lives better. Now, it can be taken away within an instant, and that’s terrifying.