Reporting for MPR News and Sahan Journal, Becky Dernbach and Cynthia Tu write about how the ICE onslaught on Minnesota affected schools.
One January night, 13-year-old Alessandro, his parents and his two younger sisters slipped out of their St. Paul home. They brought only diapers for the baby and a small suitcase of clothes they grabbed in a hurry, leaving everything else behind.
Thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents had come to Minnesota as part of an aggressive campaign to arrest as many immigrants as possible. For two months, the Honduran immigrant family hadn’t left their home even to buy groceries, while throughout the Twin Cities ICE arrested parents at school bus stops and children returning from school.
And now, ICE had come knocking at their door. Days later, the family escaped in the night, heading east to New York City. Alessandro sent a good-bye message to his favorite teacher, saying he hoped to someday return to Battle Creek Middle School.
Though many districts tried to keep students engaged through online learning and food deliveries, some families, like Alessandro’s, decided they had to leave. A new Sahan Journal analysis shows the extent of the enrollment loss following Operation Metro Surge: as many as 1,700 students left the Minnesota school districts and charter schools with the highest percentage of English learners.
“Kids literally disappeared,” said Brenda Lewis, the superintendent of Fridley Public Schools. “Literally in an unprecedented manner. Overnight.”
José Pecina Galvan, a bilingual educational assistant at Alessandro’s school who became the main point of contact for about 50 Spanish-speaking families, says 10 to 15 of his students never came back. Some moved to another state or city to be with family, including an 11-year-old who had to move to Missouri to stay with his sister after both his parents were detained at work. Some returned to their home countries.
“Some of them I just couldn’t even get ahold of,” Pecina Galvan said. “The mom or dad might have got taken, and they don’t have family, we don’t have a way to reach them.”
Sahan Journal requested October and March enrollment data from the 20 school districts and 20 charter schools with the highest percentage of English learners in Minnesota. Across the 29 districts and charter schools that provided data, enrollment was down by about 1,700 students in March 2026 compared to October 2025. By contrast, midyear enrollment across those same districts declined by fewer than 80 students in the 2024-2025 school year.