For the last two months of their life in the United States, Jos茅 Alberto Gonz谩lez and his family spent nearly all their time in their one-bedroom Denver apartment. They didn鈥檛 speak to anyone except their roommates, another family from Venezuela.
They consulted WhatsApp messages for warnings of immigration agents in the area before leaving for the rare landscaping job or to buy groceries.
But most days at 7:20 a.m., Gonz谩lez鈥檚 wife took their children to school.
The appeal of their children learning English in , and the desire to make money, had compelled Gonz谩lez and his wife to bring their 6- and 3-year-old on the monthslong journey to the United States.
They arrived two years ago, planning to stay for a decade. But on Feb. 28, Gonz谩lez and his family boarded a bus from Denver to El Paso, where they would walk across the border and start the long trip back to Venezuela.
Even as immigrants in the U.S. avoid going out in public, terrified of encountering immigration authorities, families across the country are mostly .
That鈥檚 not to say they feel safe. In some cases, families are telling their children鈥檚 schools that they鈥檙e leaving.
Already, thousands of immigrants have notified federal authorities they plan to 鈥渟elf-deport,鈥 according to the Department of Homeland Security. President Donald Trump has by stoking fears of imprisonment, ramping up government surveillance, and and transportation out of the country.
And on Monday, the allowed the Trump administration to strip legal protections from hundreds of thousands of Venezuelan immigrants, potentially exposing them to deportation. Without , even more families will weigh whether to leave the U.S., advocates say.
Departures in significant numbers could spell trouble for schools, which receive funding based on how many students they enroll.
鈥淭he amount of fear and uncertainty that is going through parents鈥 heads, who could blame somebody for making a choice to leave?鈥 said Andrea Renter铆a, principal of a Denver elementary school . 鈥淚 can tell them as a principal that I won鈥檛 let anybody in this school. Nobody is taking your kid. But I can鈥檛 say the same for them out in the workforce or driving somewhere.鈥
Rumors of immigration raids on schools became a turning point
When Trump was elected in November after promising to deport immigrants and depicting Venezuelans, in particular, as gang members, Gonz谩lez knew it was time to go. He was willing to accept the tradeoff of earning just $50 weekly in his home country, where public schools operate a few hours a day.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 want to be treated like a delinquent,鈥 Gonz谩lez said in Spanish. 鈥淚鈥檓 from Venezuela and have tattoos. For him, that means I鈥檓 a criminal.鈥
It took Gonz谩lez months to save up the more than $3,000 he needed to get his family to Venezuela on a series of buses and on foot. He and his wife didn鈥檛 tell anyone of their plan except the single mom who shared their apartment, afraid to draw attention to themselves. Telling people they wanted to leave would signal they were living here illegally.
They sent their children to their Denver school regularly until late February, when Gonz谩lez鈥檚 phone lit up with messages claiming immigration agents were planning raids inside schools. That week, they kept their son home.
鈥淗onestly, we were really scared for our boy,鈥 Gonz谩lez said. 鈥淏ecause we didn鈥檛 have legal status.鈥
In the months following Trump鈥檚 inauguration, Denver Public School attendance suffered, according to district data.
Attendance districtwide fell by 3% in February compared with the same period last year, with even steeper declines of up to 4.7% at schools primarily serving immigrant newcomer students. The deflated rates continued through March, with districtwide attendance down 1.7% and as much as 3.9% at some newcomer schools.
Some parents told Denver school staff they had no plans to approach their children鈥檚 campus after the Trump administration that had limited immigration enforcement at schools.
The Denver school district over that reversal, saying attendance dropped 鈥渘oticeably鈥 across all schools, 鈥減articularly those schools in areas with new-to-country families and where ICE raids have already occurred.鈥 A federal judge ruled in March the district failed to prove the new policy caused the attendance decline.
Attendance dropped in many schools following Trump’s inauguration
Data obtained from 15 districts across eight additional states, including Texas, Alabama, Idaho and Massachusetts, showed a similar decline in school attendance after the inauguration for a few weeks. In most places, attendance rebounded sooner than in Denver.
From 2022 to 2024, more than 40,000 Venezuelans and Colombian migrants or other assistance from Denver. Trump said he would begin his mass deportation efforts nearby, in the suburb of Aurora, because of alleged Venezuelan gang activity.
Nationwide, schools are still reporting immediate drops in daily attendance during weeks when there is immigration enforcement 鈥 or even rumors of ICE raids 鈥 in their communities, said Hedy Chang of the nonprofit Attendance Works, which helps schools address absenteeism.
Dozens of districts didn鈥檛 respond to requests for attendance data. Some said they feared drawing the attention of immigration enforcement.
In late February, Gonz谩lez and his wife withdrew their children from school and told administrators they were returning to Venezuela. He posted a goodbye message on a Facebook group for Denver volunteers he used to find work and other help. 鈥淭hank you for everything, friends,鈥 he posted. 鈥淭omorrow I leave with God鈥檚 favor.鈥
Immediately, half a dozen Venezuelan and Colombian women asked him for advice on getting back. 鈥淲e plan to leave in May, if God allows,鈥 one woman posted in Spanish.
In Denver, 3,323 students have withdrawn from school through mid-April 鈥 an increase of 686 compared with the same period last year. Denver school officials couldn鈥檛 explain the uptick.
At the 400-student Denver elementary school Andrea Renter铆a heads, at least two students have withdrawn since the inauguration because of immigration concerns. One is going back to Colombia and the other didn鈥檛 say where they were headed.
School officials in Massachusetts and Washington state have confirmed some students are withdrawing from school to return to El Salvador, Brazil and Mexico. Haitians are trying to go to Mexico or Canada.
In Chelsea, Massachusetts, a 6,000-student district where nearly half the students are still learning English, a handful of families have recently withdrawn their children because of immigration concerns.
One mother in March withdrew two young children from the district to return to El Salvador, according to district administrator Daniel Mojica. Her 19-year old daughter will stay behind, on her own, to finish school 鈥 a sign that these decisions are leading to more family separation.
In Bellingham, Washington, two families withdrew their children after an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid in early April at a local roofing company, where agents arrested fathers of 16 children attending Bellingham schools. Both families returned to Mexico, family engagement specialist Isabel Meaker said.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a sense, not just with these families, that it鈥檚 not worth it to fight. They know the end result,鈥 Meaker said.
Immigrant families are gathering documents they need to return home
Countries with large populations living in the United States are seeing signs of more people wanting to return home.
Applications for Brazilian passports from consulates in the U.S. increased 36% in March, compared to the previous year, according to data from the Brazilian Foreign Ministry. Birth registrations, the first step to getting a Brazilian passport for a U.S.-born child, were up 76% in April compared to the previous year. Guatemala reports a 5% increase over last year for passports from its nationals living in the United States.
Last month, Melvin Josu茅, his wife and another couple drove four hours from New Jersey to Boston to get Honduran passports for their American-born children.
It鈥檚 a step that鈥檚 taken on urgency in case these families decide life in the United States is untenable. Melvin Josu茅 worries about Trump鈥檚 immigration policy and what might happen if he or his wife is detained, but lately he鈥檚 more concerned with the difficulty of finding work.
Demand for his drywall crew immediately stopped amid the economic uncertainty caused by tariffs. There鈥檚 also more reluctance, he said, to hire workers here illegally.
(The Associated Press agreed to use only his first and middle name because he鈥檚 in the country illegally and fears being separated from his family.)
鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what we鈥檒l do, but we may have to go back to Honduras,鈥 he said. 鈥淲e want to be ready.鈥
The size of the exodus and its impact on schools remains unclear, but already some are starting to worry.
A consultant working with districts in Texas on immigrant education said one district there has seen a significant drop in summer school sign-ups for students learning English.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e really worried about enrollment for the fall,鈥 said Viridiana Carrizales, chief executive officer of ImmSchools, a nonprofit that advises school districts how to meet the needs of immigrant students and their families.
Education finance experts predict budget problems for districts with large immigrant populations.
鈥淓very student that walks in the door gets a chunk of money with it, not just federal money, but state and local money, too,鈥 said Marguerite Roza, a Georgetown University professor focusing on education finance. 鈥淚f a district had a lot of migrant students in its district, that鈥檚 a loss of funds potentially there. We think that鈥檚 a real high risk.鈥
Trump鈥檚 offer to pay immigrants to leave and help them with transportation could hasten the departures.
Gonz谩lez, now back in Venezuela, says he wouldn鈥檛 have accepted the money, because it would have meant registering with the U.S. government, which he no longer trusts. And that鈥檚 what he鈥檚 telling the dozens of migrants in the U.S. who contact him each week asking the best way home.
Go on your own, he tells them. Once you have the cash, it鈥檚 much easier going south than it was getting to the U.S. in the first place.
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Associated Press writer Jocelyn Gecker contributed to this report.
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