As ICE arrests rise, Florida schools see measurable declines in student test performance, study finds

A new study by the National Bureau of Economic Research has found that the surge in immigration enforcement during and after the Trump administration’s tenure may be quietly reshaping classrooms — and not for the better. Researchers say that heightened arrests and fear of deportation are not only affecting immigrant families but also dragging down the academic performance of U.S. citizen students who live in Spanish-speaking households, according to a report by Chalkbeat. The findings, released as a working paper by NBER, suggest that when immigration raids and arrests rise, test scores fall. The study draws on detailed data from a large Florida school district, where students’ test scores were tracked over several years alongside immigration arrest rates, Chalkbeat reported. Research