Back-to-school comes with cautious hope for Calistoga’s immigrant families
At the Calistoga Joint Unified School District of about 860 students, where nearly 90%of
students are Hispanic or Latino, the back-to-school mood feels noticeably different from much of
California.
“I’m not afraid to go back to school, I’m carefully optimistic,” said Juan, who goes by Juanito
and asked that his last name and grade level not be published, “in case the government attacks
my family.” A Calistoga Joint Unified School District student, he spoke in Spanish, noting that
he comes from a mixed-status family. “We don’t think ICE agents are going to come to our
schools or take our parents if they come to pick us up.”
That sense of safety stands in stark contrast to students 400 miles away at Los Angeles Unified,
where students worry not only about charged Chromebooks, lunch money and sharpened pencils
but also about immigration raids.
Student absences rose 22% in California school districts facing intensified immigration
enforcement, a sign that fears of deportation are keeping children out of the classroom, according
to a Stanford study by economist Thomas Dee and Big Local News.
Those fears were heightened across the state last week when plainclothes immigration agents
detained a 15-year-old student with disabilities outside Arleta High School in Los Angeles. The
boy was quickly released, according to reports, after agents determined he was not the person
they were seeking.
Calistoga Joint Unified School District did not immediately respond to questions about
enrollment data and whether it is engaging with families regarding immigration enforcement.
But in the town of just over 5,000, the atmosphere is strikingly different.
“We feel safe here,” said Yolanda Lopez, who works in hotel hospitality and volunteers with
Promotoras at UpValley Family Centers, helping connect Spanish-speaking immigrant families
to community services. “We trust our providers, including the local police department. Our
schools are no different,” she said in Spanish.
Under U.S. law, children have the right to an education regardless of immigration status. Still,
many districts wrestle with how to respond if federal agents arrive on school campuses.
For some in Calistoga, peace of mind exists alongside quiet precaution.
“There is fear but that is outside Calistoga,” said Gloria Parada, another Promotora who has lived
in town for more than two decades. “I know people who won’t even go up to Napa because they
are afraid, given that federal agents have been in the area.”
Those concerns are not unfounded.
The North Bay Rapid Response Network, which monitors ICE activity, recently reported that
federal agents were searching for someone in Napa’s Bel Aire neighborhood. Bel Aire Park
Elementary Principal Kim Title told families via email she spoke directly with agents, who said
their investigation was confined to that location.
Earlier this month, ICE also made an arrest in downtown Napa, the Rapid Response Network
confirmed. The group issued an alert on Instagram urging residents to keep reporting ICE
activity so legal observers can be dispatched. “Together we can live into our solidarity and back
up immigrant communities in the face of threats to separate our families, neighbors and friends,”
the organization wrote.
For now, the back-to-school season in the small Napa Valley town comes with a cautious sense
of hope that, unlike in many other districts, classrooms remain a refuge.
