Immigration Fears Are Keeping Kids At Home

The Gus Garcia Recreation Center is usually abuzz with activity after 4 p.m. The rec center offers a free after-school teen program that hosts students from the middle school and the charter school just across the road. Nate Koehler is a program specialist at the Gus Garcia Recreation Center and he heads up the teen program as well as youth sports and camps, and he says things have been changing.

“We'd have 50 to 60 teenagers here a day,” Koehler says. This particular year, it's not anywhere close to that. “I'm lucky if I get a solid 25 to 30 kids a day. It's like a drastic decrease.”

It’s not just the teen program at the rec center. Attendance data shows that enrollment has drastically dropped for programs across Rundberg, with some dropping as much as 75% year over year. Officials at each location say the same thing: parents are concerned about immigration and customs enforcement, or ICE, activity in the community, and they’re opting to keep their kids home.

“Our slowest day would be maybe four kids or five kids. And then now it's like one kid on a slow day,” says Rachael Frederick. She’s an 8th grade science teacher at Dobie Middle School who hosts a science club and a medical academy as part of the school’s ACE programming. Frederick says other factors have probably contributed to the lower attendance. Dobie Middle School’s overall enrollment is down this year by about 100 students, and after-school transportation can also be a challenge for families. But Frederick says concerns about immigration enforcement loom large for families and students.

“They're worried about deportation and incarceration,” Frederick says. “We've had a lot of stuff happen on Rundberg. So the families are really scared and rightfully so.”

Several immigration operations took place in Rundberg last year, including a mother who was pulled over near Dobie Middle School.

“Our students saw that,” says Elizabeth Davis, a Dobie MS teaching assistant and ATP campus representative. “They saw firsthand, ICE take away a parent.”

New reporting by the Austin American-Statesman shows that ICE detentions in central Texas have more than doubled in the first nine months of Trump’s current presidency as compared to 2024, even though fewer had criminal convictions. Their reporting also shows that immigration detainer requests have also increased. Detainers allow local authorities to hold an individual until immigration officers can take them into custody. The number of detainers requested for individuals with no pending charges or criminal convictions nearly doubled.

Stories about deportations from across the country to across the street have impacted children and families throughout the community. Kate Stofko manages the Teen Tech Center at the North Austin YMCA. She says they’ve seen a drastic drop in attendance. Last February about 160 teens signed in at the center. This year that number dropped to 40 attendees, a 75% decrease.

“A lot of families are nervous to go anywhere besides work and school,” Stofko says.

But she’s trying to mobilize for her students who aren’t present. Stofko has been using the tech center’s 3D printers to craft whistles, so residents can warn others about ICE in the vicinity. She’s hoping to give them out for free to community members.

“If we can do just a little thing here in our Teen Tech Center for the community, then we’re going to do it,” says Stofko.

But it’s not just short-term ramifications that staff are worried about. Some are concerned that programs may go away entirely if numbers get too low, potentially taking away more resources from an area that has been historically underserved.

“At some point, they have to change the budget in some way and they're going to cut the ones that don't feel the most viable, you know?” says Koehler. “And so I worry about that.”

But more than anything, staff are worried about their students.

“Their safety is top priority for us,” says Davis. “So it hurts my heart as well as everybody else when they say that they want to be here, but they simply cannot.”

Koehler says he wants to be a safe space for students, but it’s difficult seeing students grappling with such daunting challenges.

“It's hard to see every day,” Koehler says. “You're supposed to love because love beats hate and I show love by keeping my rage invisible.”