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Students at Western International High School in Detroit say they are fearful and angry after immigration agents detained one of their classmates last month.
“I just didn’t think it was right,” said Yoselin Luna, a junior at the school. “It’s just sad he has to experience that. It makes me sad because of all the hate.”
Agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, detained the 18-year-old student, whose name has not been released, after he was pulled over on May 20 for a traffic stop by local police. He and three classmates were on their way to join a field trip at Lake Erie Metropark, about 25 miles from Detroit. The other students weren’t arrested.
Western International, the largest high school in Southwest Detroit, is home to a newcomer program that provides academic and social support to families who recently arrived in the U.S., and more than 60% of students at the school are English language learners. In the wake of the arrest, incorrect information around the circumstances circulated in the school. Some students said they wished district officials had informed them about what happened.
In some ways, the arrest shows the limits of what school districts can do to shield students from immigration enforcement. Superintendent Nikolai Vitti told Chalkbeat the Detroit Public Schools Community District did not notify students or families of the arrest because the student was not “under the protection and responsibility of” the district at the time.
Vitti said the 18-year-old skipped school that day and did not have permission to attend the field trip. Neither did the three classmates in his car, he said.
The school district has “done everything it can to protect students” while they are on school grounds, but it is limited in what it can do off campus, Vitti said.
Rockwood police stopped the car about a mile away from the park, the Detroit Free Press first reported.
The student did not have a driver’s license, only a City of Detroit identification card, a spokesperson from U.S. Customs and Border Patrol told Chalkbeat.
The student recently came to the U.S. from Colombia, the Free Press reported. He did not have legal immigration status and a judge had already issued a deportation order before he was arrested, federal officials said.
The local police contacted Border Patrol agents, according to federal officials, and he was put into ICE custody. The 18-year-old was held at the Chippewa County Correctional Facility in the Upper Peninsula, the Free Press reported. Federal officials didn’t confirm his current location.
District officials are concerned about the student, Vitti said, but couldn’t do much in those circumstances.
“After the student was apprehended, District police engaged the authorities that had the student in custody to ensure his safety and to advocate on his behalf,” said Vitti. “But, ultimately the authorities were following procedure and the law.”
Advocates say the student’s detention is a reminder of the reality educators and families have to contend with as the Trump administration has directed mass deportations.
Christine Sauvé, policy, engagement, and communications manager for the Michigan Immigrant Rights Center, said families with precarious legal status must routinely make considerations about their safety when performing daily activities others might take for granted, like attending school trips.
“We’re trying to be very clear-eyed and upfront with families when they are trying to make decisions about which risks to take,” she said. “There’s an ever-present risk of local law enforcement agencies cooperating with ICE. It’s difficult news to process, but it’s something we want families to be aware of when making these calculations.”
Some students wish the district told them about the arrest
Several students from Western International who spoke to Chalkbeat said they didn’t hear about their peer’s detention from school administrators. Those who were aware of it heard from their classmates.
“I feel that it’s wrong that not a lot of us know that this happened,” said Jaylin Miller, a junior at Western International.
A senior, who asked not to be named due to fears of immigration enforcement, said he thought the school should have sent out a notification about the incident.
“I wish the principal would have stated it and let the whole school know about it and just keep everyone in touch,” he said.
Some of the students had heard rumors about the circumstances of the arrest, including that immigration agents stopped a school bus. Another thought that all of the students on the trip were asked to show their identification without cause. Both rumors were false.
Another senior, who has family members without legal status and spoke on the basis of anonymity, said the only information he’s received from the school addressing fears about recent changes to immigration enforcement policy was an email in January.
The email informed families about the district’s guidance following the Trump administration ending a decades-old practice of treating schools and child care centers as “sensitive” or “protected” locations where immigration arrests do not typically occur.
District policy requires a judicial warrant and an administrative review process for any entry into a school. But areas around schools, such as parking lots and streets, are public property.
“The District has had no challenges with ICE on our property this school year,” said Vitti, adding the school system’s jurisdiction beyond its property is “limited.”
Southwest Detroit youth are fearful and sad after the arrest
Yoselin, the Western International junior, first heard about her peer’s arrest during chemistry class from another student.
Yoselin said her father was deported from Detroit years ago. Lately, her Instagram feed is filled with videos of parents being separated from their children by immigration agents, she said.
“It’s scary,” said another student from the school who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of family immigration concerns. “For that to happen to one person, it keeps everyone alert, scared.”
Several youth brought the Western International student’s arrest to the attention of Samantha Magdaleno, executive director of One Michigan for Immigrant Rights.
“All of the students are afraid of what they’re seeing,” she said. “This administration is going after low-hanging fruit — they’re going after a student who was doing his best, going to school, and trying to contribute to society.”
Fear has permeated throughout Southwest Detroit’s large immigrant community since Trump was elected, said Magdaleno.
Across schools in the neighborhood, Vitti said there was a drop in attendance after Trump’s January directive to end the protected location policy for schools, though he did not say how much it declined.
After the district released its guidance, the superintendent said attendance and chronic absenteeism rates at those schools “have largely returned to levels comparable to last year.”
Vitti added it’s clear nonetheless that the president’s rhetoric and executive orders on immigration policy have “negatively impacted student attendance at schools with larger student immigrant populations.”
Reaction to the Western International student’s arrest has been muted in Detroit compared to that of two other recent immigration arrests of high school students in other parts of the country. Those instances garnered national attention, outrage, and protest.
Two weeks ago, a New York City public school student was detained after a routine immigration court date in Manhattan.
Officials from the school immediately got involved, seeking legal aid from various organizations. The principal told students the news and made space for them to share their emotions at school. New York Mayor Eric Adams, who initially distanced himself from the case, voiced his support for the student through a legal brief.
Last week in Massachusetts, ICE detained a high school student on his way to volleyball practice. The superintendent of the district released a public statement decrying the arrest. Many teachers joined protests and the state’s governor said she was “disturbed and outraged.”
The Massachusetts student has been released on bond, while the New York City student remains in detention.
Hannah Dellinger covers K-12 education and state education policy for Chalkbeat Detroit. You can reach her at hdellinger@chalkbeat.org.
Hannah Dellinger 2025-06-06 22:29:37
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