Dismantling the "School-to-Deportation Pipeline": A Policy Analysis of K-12 Sanctuary School District Policies2020

Abstract

Sanctuary designations have existed in the United States since the 1980s, but carry additional significance during Donald Trump’s presidency. The current federal context of sanctuary school districts falls under Plyler v. Doe, FERPA, a sensitive locations designation, and Executive Order 13768. Enhanced immigration enforcement activity has led to a school-to-deportation pipeline, increased absenteeism, and enhanced rates of anxiety, PTSD, and cardiovascular disease for immigrant students. This study focused on a random sample of 50 sanctuary school district policies from across the country which work to respond to the negative effects of increased immigration enforcement. These policies were placed into a binary code according to 15 policy components, and then compared to the race, language, nationality, citizenship, and income demographic data of each school district through a logistic regression. The results of this analysis uncovered a clear relationship between demographics and policy components. Moreover, a factor analysis was performed, and concluded that three typologies of policy exist: empowerment, partnerships, and top down. OLS regressions revealed that these typologies are directly correlated with demographic characteristics, largely aligning with the most vulnerable populations affected by immigration enforcement officials. From an assessment of the gaps between model and real policies, it is recommended that school districts incorporate elements of the NILC and ACLU policies into their own sanctuary designation to more actively participate in dismantling the school-to-deportation pipeline.