First Year Teacher Says An Undocumented Student Asked If She Would Adopt Them — 'Today Is Absolutely Breaking My Heart'
The question, understandably, really affected the educator.
VH-studio | Shutterstock The recent 2024 presidential election is sure to lead to extreme changes in the country as Donald Trump prepares to take office.
As Americans prepare for these new changes, some are excited for the future, while others are frustrated. Children are not exempt from these emotions either.
A teacher took to Reddit to share the heartbreaking experience she had with a student who is worried about President-elect Donald Trump’s immigration and deportation policy.
An undocumented student asked their teacher if she would adopt them.
In her Reddit post, a new teacher shared an experience she had with a student following Donald Trump’s presidential election win that broke her heart.
“[A] student asked me to adopt them today so they wouldn’t be deported,” she said.
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The teacher provided some backstory to clarify the student's concerns.
“My students are in high school and a vast majority of them are undocumented,” she explained. “They were terrified today, yet making jokes that I’m going to come back to an empty classroom soon because they’ll all be gone.”
The Reddit post was made on November 6, the day after the election. “Today is absolutely breaking my heart,” she said.
“I wish I could do more to ease their minds but I’m honestly just as terrified about how things are going as they are,” she admitted. “This is also my first year teaching so I’m not used to all of this emotional guidance that happens in the classroom.”
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In the comments section, other teachers shared their own experiences of similar situations.
“One of my students asked me where she would go if her parents get deported,” one said. “I made it through the day without crying and I just broke.”
Another added, “This happened to me the last time he won. A high school freshman as big as a fridge came to me in passing period very scared and teary, asking if his parents were going to be picked up at work that day.”
“My kids’ Hispanic friends are making jokes that we’ll have to visit them in Mexico and I just want to cry,” someone else said.
Donald Trump has promised 'mass deportations' of undocumented immigrants.
Pew Research Center estimated that there were 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States as of 2022. While Trump claimed that the number was closer to 18 million during the June 29 presidential debate, he has promised to deport large numbers of immigrants regardless of the exact number.
NBC News reported that Karoline Leavitt, the Trump campaign’s national press secretary, said, “A majority of Americans want mass deportations for illegal immigrants … On day one back in the White House, President Trump will begin the largest criminal deportation operation of illegal immigrants and restore the rule of law.”
When asked by NBC’s Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker about the cost of such an undertaking, Trump told her, “It’s not a question of price tag. It’s not — really, we have no choice.”
As immigration was one of the most important policies of Trump’s campaign, he seems determined to continue with his plan for “mass deportations” regardless of the financial or emotional cost.
There are a host of emotional and mental problems that children with deported parents face.
Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance, refused to give Welker a straight answer as to whether or not families would be separated in Trump’s planned “mass deportations.” Although it’s unclear if it will actually happen, it is obviously foremost in these immigrant families' minds, especially the kids who are old enough to understand.
The American Immigration Council said, “A child’s risk of experiencing mental health problems like depression, anxiety, and severe psychological distress increases following the detention and/or deportation of a parent.”
These children want to stay with their families, and there can be dire consequences for their mental health if they don’t.
Clearly, some in the United States are already feeling the consequences of such a contentious presidential race.
Mary-Faith Martinez is a writer with a bachelor’s degree in English and Journalism who covers news, psychology, lifestyle, and human interest topics.