The city of Wilsonville as a whole has been introduced to a new fear, and it’s slowly starting to fill schools, neighborhoods, and jobs with stress and anxiety as things escalate.

We have begun to see a rise in immigration enforcement here in Wilsonville at very close proximity –—Safeway, apartments in Wilsonville, and even attempting to encroach upon school property at Inza R. Wood Middle School.

This issue has affected many families, whether it be directly or indirectly, it all matters just the same. ICE has instilled fear in students, parents, teachers, and staff from the anxiety of not knowing where they are going to show up next. 

The impact ICE is having on some students is very negative to their well-being from the constant stress and worry. Day-to-day life for any student is already difficult to manage but adding this factor can disorganize their routine.

A junior at Wilsonville High School, Yahir Loeza, shares the toll ICE is taking on him as a student, “I can barely focus in class sometimes knowing there’s families getting torn apart and [knowing] my family is at risk.”  Even if someone isn’t worried about themselves, there’s always a chance they are worried about someone else, so this can affect more than the people getting more directly affected by ICE, “All I can think about is if they’re okay” Yahir continues.

Not only the students leaving their homes for school everyday are anxious, their worrying families face the same anxiety for their children every day. The amount of fear ICE has placed in some households is creating grave effects, such as families not wanting to leave their home, parents being anxious when their child leaves to go to school, and simply the fact that parents now have to warn their kids when going to certain places.All to protect their safety from being racially profiled and approached by ICE .

Uly Guzman, another student explains, “When ICE was first reported in Wilsonville, my mom had called me and told me to warn me to be careful when going into town”. Likewise, when students hear of ICE in Wilsonville they want to reach out to their parents and warn them as well. 

At Wilsonville High School, they are taking the precautions necessary and planning to ensure student safety at all times. In recent circumstances, more thoughtful and careful planning has been done in order to still hold traditional and important events at school for students like the Baile de la Luna. Our annual Dia de Muertos event had to be cancelled due to different reasons but at the Baile there were only around 12-15 students.

For both of these events, “[ICE] 100% was a concern and I feel that it did affect the turnout of students showing up to the Baile de la Luna” states Marcus Washington. Wilsonville is doing everything in their power to ensure a safe environment for students and to provide support for students at such an anxious time. Marcus Washington ensures that, “ICE is not welcomed in our district or on our campus and as a district we are ready to protect our students”. 

Our school is not the only school facing this issue but it’s an issue that is being handled at their best abilities whether it is Wilsonville Highschool, Inza R. Wood Middle school , other schools in or out of Oregon. An article by The Oregonian was written about facing similar challenges from ICE, leading to Portland schools having to increase security because of it.

For now, schools are doing what they can and adapting to these unfortunate events but for students, parents, and staff mental health there is hope to see change in the future.