Four Students in Two Weeks — and Fear Spreading Through Schools
Columbia Heights district officials say three other students under 18 have been detained by federal agents in recent weeks.
One was a 10-year-old fourth grader apprehended with her mother while on her way to school.
Stenvik said the child called her father to say ICE agents were bringing her to school.
He rushed to the school — only to find both his daughter and wife had been taken.
Stenvik said by the end of that school day, they were already in a detention center in Texas, and they remain there.
Another student was reportedly taken on the way to school on Tuesday, Jan. 20.
And last week, Stenvik said a 17-year-old student was detained when agents pushed their way into an apartment.
Then came the part that sounds like a community describing a slow-motion panic:
Stenvik said agents have been roaming neighborhoods, circling schools, following buses, coming into parking lots, and taking children.
That’s not just enforcement.
That’s psychological warfare on families trying to do the normal things:
- Send kids to school
- Get them home safely
- Live without feeling hunted
And when the fear spreads, the math changes fast.
Stenvik said nearly a third of students in the district have stayed home in recent weeks out of fear.
She described children watching detentions on their way to school, on their way home, and through their windows.
Even if you don’t know the law, you understand the impact:
Kids learn that school routes can lead to disappearance.
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