Low birth rates were emptying public schools. ICE deportations are now making it worse
NPR · Brian Mann ·
School enrollment was already expected to plunge by 2 million kids by 2030. Education experts say deporting immigrant families, many with school-age children, is making the crisis worse.
LOS ANGELES — Long before the Trump administration started deporting hundreds of thousands of immigrants, many with school-age children, public schools nationwide faced a massive and accelerating drop in student enrollment caused mostly by shrinking families.
"Birth rates here in Los Angeles County have been declining for decades, which means fewer children enrolled in our schools," said Kelly Gonez, a board member in the LA Unified School District (LAUSD), the second largest in the country, which lost more than 300,000 students over the last two decades.
LA isn't alone. The population of children under age 18 began to fall nationwide after 2010, according to U.S. Census data, dropping by roughly 2.1 million kids through 2025.