Teaching in the Shadows of Operation Aurora

Story and photos by Juanita Hurtado Huérfano through a collaboration with News Corps at CU Boulder’s College of Media, Communication and Information

Kaedynce Kaleikini sits in the middle of the crowded room with a black erasable marker in hand. She is working with Siem, one of the students she tutors at Boulder Preparatory High School on Thursdays. She supports at-risk students by helping them practice their language skills, working with them on their homework, and facilitating “cultural integration”—helping them feel safe and comfortable in their schools and communities, giving them a sense of belonging.

Siem just turned 18. He was living in a refugee camp in Ethiopia with his sister and had been in the United States for only a couple of months. They came here looking for their father, a father they no longer know if they’ll find due to the new immigration policies. So, Kaleikini works with him on what they can control: getting his GED. 

The conversation starts almost warily; Siem is still working on his English pronunciation, but slowly describes the engine, brand and features of his dream car. He smiles shyly each time she tells him if he keeps working on his conversation skills, he’ll be able to take the mechanics class at Boulder Prep soon.

Then she asks where his sister is, and he simply shakes his head. quietly looking at the journalist shadowing the class. Kalekini doesn’t ask further.

Once they are finished, Riley takes Siem’s seat. The room is small and filled with bluish beanbags, piles of unopened boxes, grey computer containers, a hidden piano and wool hanging from the projector. 

He tells Kaleikini he wants to work on his upcoming class presentation about Superman’s marginalized beginning in World War II, but he looks down first and asks: 

“Am I going to be in danger if I tell people I’m Jewish?”

Kaleikini quickly shakes her head and taps his hand.

“You will be fine,” she said, although she doesn’t really know that. 

Like Kalekini, educators across the state are facing these conversations with their students as the new Trump administration settles in. Due to safety concerns, Siem and Riley declined to be interviewed; only their first names are provided in this story.

“ I’m up at five-thirty every morning, and that’s the only time I really have to myself throughout the day,” Kaleikini said. She’s at the school by 8:30 a.m., hugging her students and coworkers, setting up for the day. 

Then, her rounds start. Checking in with students in different classes, taking walks with those who need to talk, and tutoring those who want to earn their GED.

But each time, there are fewer students. 

“ They feel like maybe they shouldn’t be at school because they need to go help or should go support their families,” Kaleikini said. “Or they are worried they are going to be sent away or deported or whatever the case may be, that their situation is in their head with their family.”

Schools face attendance decline

Despite a 2023-2024 spike in enrollment in Colorado due to the influx of migrant students, schools across the state have reported a decline in student attendance since Trump’s executive order ended Biden-era guidelines discouraging ICE from targeting “sensitive locations” like schools. The order was part of the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration, publicly known as “Operation Aurora.”

This decline isn’t unprecedented. A Stanford University study from the previous Trump administration found that local ICE partnerships reduced Hispanic student enrollment by 7.3%, displacing over 300,000 students.

In a statement released on Feb. 7, Denver Public Schools acknowledged a recent drop in attendance. Superintendent Alex Marrero told CBS Colorado he visited a classroom in Aurora where fewer than 20% of students were present. 

As a result, organizations like the ACLU and Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network quickly released guides distinguishing between administrative and judicial warrants, among other resources. They hoped to remind schools that most ICE activity does not authorize entry without a judge-issued warrant.

Denver and Aurora school districts issued internal memos outlining how staff should respond if ICE agents appear, echoing these protections. Other districts followed suit.

The Boulder Valley School District, where Kaleikini works, also passed a resolution back in December reaffirming it would not collect or maintain any information on students’ immigration status and set similar guidelines to those of Aurora and Denver.

At the university level, tensions have risen, too. Following student protests at CU Boulder and the University of Denver, OPLA, ICE’s legal arm, pulled out of campus job fairs. Across the country, over a thousand student visas have been revoked, including at least 60 in Colorado. Students have responded with protests pushing for schools in Colorado to declare sanctuary status, though no colleges have done so.

Educators, on the other hand, are adapting on the ground. Kaleikini and others say they now spend time connecting students with social workers, community resources, and simply listening to their fears.

A 2018 UCLA study found that 84% of educators reported students expressing fears over immigration enforcement. More than one-third said the concern was “a lot or extensive.” Students asked, “How will we eat?” or “Where will I go if my parents are deported?”

These concerns have also affected students’ educational journeys. “ I think one thing that we all know as counselors is that you can’t really access your prefrontal cortex or your logic brain when you’re in your emotional brain,” said Margaret Kennedy, Thomas Jefferson High School counselor.

“You’re like fight or freeze, so learning doesn’t happen when anxiety and stress are high to the same extent that it does when there is an optimal environment,” added Jillian Gleason, another Thomas Jefferson High School counselor.

In response to Operation Aurora, teachers are supporting students outside the classrooms

Kennedy and Gleason have encouraged teachers and staff to leave space for students to voice their concerns and let them know school is still their safe place. They are also sharing with students and families a DPS immigration toolkit that allows students to learn about their educational rights, immigration rights and policies, and what student data is collected, used, and accessible.

The toolkit also invites students to talk about a “family safety plan.” This is a plan in place to care for the student in the event that the parents become “unavailable” due to an arrest, deportation, or another reason.

Violeta Chapin, a clinical professor of law at CU Boulder and an immigration attorney, has been hosting “Know Your Rights” panels at CU Boulder for the last couple of years. She invites students to learn about resources for those who might be undocumented, mixed-status families, or those wanting to become allies. But as the new Trump administration began, she’s also been invited to elementary schools, middle schools and high schools.

Chapin tries to keep these sessions light and honest for the kids. She says the sessions are a balance, providing them with enough information while reminding them their parents will figure out the best plan of action and that this shouldn’t be their concern quite yet. 

“It is important as both a lawyer and an educator to provide people with as much correct information as I possibly can,” Chaplin said. “And I’m also mindful of the fact that children are children and they have the right to just be kids and to not be worried about things that are largely outside of their control and that are largely controlled by adults.”

Kennedy and Gleason have also mentioned the importance of educators and staff taking care of themselves, whether that’s leaning on their partners, families, and support systems or voicing their concerns. Everyone in the education system is at risk of burnout or mental health challenges in these overwhelming times.

“ Educator to educator, we have definitely seen a lot of efforts to get the resources out there, [to] get these groups and allyships, posters and newscasts of what’s going on with these policies, what they look like,” Kaleikini said. “[But] with my students, there’s definitely been a lot of decline [on attendance] and I would say a lot of decline in focus too because they are focused on everything else that will, could, or is happening to them.”

Kaleikini says she sees the changes in late homework assignments, quiet and worried faces after lunch breaks, low participation in classes, empty chairs in her tutoring hours and even angry outbursts. So, while working towards her teaching credentials at CU Boulder, she took over the task of developing an emotional regulation plan for Boulder Prep students to cope with some of these fears and anxieties. 

The plan comes in the form of a small booklet for students to fill out. Sections like the “emotional thermometer” or the “personal management plan” help kids identify who their support system is, what feelings or thoughts are overwhelming, and what kind of centering techniques might be useful. It is a part of her job that she hadn’t imagined before.

North High School teacher Levi Davidson believes protesting is also part of the job now. On Feb. 5, he joined others at the Colorado Capitol to rally against ICE enforcement at schools.

“I think it’s important for our students to know that we support them and we want them to be here and we’re going to do whatever we can for them,” Davidson. “ Our school does a really good job of protecting the students. I’m more worried for their families, who have a little bit less protection, and I’m worried that they just won’t have anywhere to go home to sometimes.”

Many of the students Davidson is teaching right now were part of the influx of migrant students Denver and Colorado saw over the last two years. Some of those kids had moments of interrupted education, meaning they were unable to attend school for months or even years as they traveled towards the United States, creating feelings of insecurity towards school.

“So they already have this feeling of not belonging,” Davidson said. “They definitely have stayed pretty localized as groups. Most of the friend groups kind of stay within the groups they arrived with, and since the change of presidency, we’ve only seen that get worse.”

Davidson jumped on the resources provided by DPS immediately and joined other teachers in efforts to educate kids about how to talk to immigration authorities, how to avoid places where raids might be taking place, and safe places to reach if their families are taken to detention facilities or deported. But for him, that isn’t enough.

He has been offering extra tutoring hours before and after school for kids who have to adapt to work or family schedules as their families’ lives are disrupted by the heightened immigration policies. The soccer team he coaches at North High School has been adapting their training hours to facilitate students struggling to make it.

But beyond all that, Davidson keeps showing up to as many protests at the Colorado Capitol as he can. He hopes the protests will urge people to educate themselves about the damage these immigration approaches are having in schools, think about the policies and candidates they are voting for, and just look at issues that might not affect them with more empathy.

 ”When we signed up to be teachers, we’re essentially signing a contract to serve our students,” Davidson said. “So, everything we can do, we should be doing. If we see policies come down in our school that don’t serve those students, I think we’ll have to act against that as well.”

What happens now?

On Feb. 12, Denver Public Schools became the first district in the country to sue the Trump administration, claiming the rollback of “sensitive location” guidelines forced them to divert resources and led to lower attendance.

Though U.S. District Judge Daniel Domenico dismissed the case, stating DPS had not proven the policy change caused the decline, he acknowledged the district was “incurring real costs” to address students’ and family concerns. In response, DHS argued ICE still uses discretion and common sense near protected areas.

Meanwhile, Colorado lawmakers passed Senate Bill 25-276 to limit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities and restrict enforcement in sensitive locations. It now awaits the governor’s signature. There is uncertainty about the enforceability of these provisions, but the bill aims to uphold Colorado’s values as a safe state for immigrants and protect due process. 

As student teachers like Kaleikini prepare to enter the education field amidst the Operation Aurora crackdown, they do so with a deep sense of purpose. The job description has changed, but their commitment has not.

“When you see a kid just light up based on something that you said or gave them, or you showed them or you helped them with, or you just get a simple thank you. Oh my gosh. It is something else,” Kaleikini said. “ I want to see them become whatever they want to be, as much as they can, and whatever I can do to help, I’m happy to be here.”