Ariande, a freshman at Fairview High School, now has more to worry about than navigating high school, where she’s been focused on making friends and maintaining grades while working for her parents’ small cleaning business.
The just-turned 15-year-old, who asked to use only her middle name to protect her parents, is worried she and her 5-year-old sister could end up with estranged family members or split up in foster care if her undocumented parents are detained or deported. Complicating the issue is that both Ariande and her sister are on the Autism spectrum. Her sister is more significantly impacted and is receiving therapy.
“I need my parents in my life,” Ariande said. “I’m just scared they will get taken away while I’m at school. If anything happens, I will take care of my sister. I’ve always looked out for my sister. If I have to get three jobs, I will do that. I’m very good at working. I will do anything for my family.”
Her mom attended Boulder High when she moved to Boulder at 15 after she was raped in Mexico, while her dad came to the United States to escape violence in Mexico. While they’re dismayed by the direction of a country they once considered “the promised land,” they said, they still feel relatively safe in Boulder — despite promises by the Trump administration of large-scale deportations.
“We try not to go out of Boulder,” Ariande’s mom said. “We feel like we have to hide when we are in other places. You don’t feel the trust. I feel like Boulder is one of the safest places to be an immigrant.”
They’re also getting support from Boulder’s Family Learning Center, which provides early childhood, afterschool, summer and family development programs. Many of the families served by the center live in the nearby San Juan Del Centro affordable housing complex or in nearby mobile home parks.
“They give you information and protect you and listen,” Ariande said. “They love the children and the community. They always help us. It’s a really special place.”
Family Learning Center Executive Director Brenda Lyle said staff members met with families as soon as deportation rumors started. The center is helping families create individual plans to follow for their children if parents are detained by immigration enforcement agents. Because it’s not only undocumented people who have been picked up, she said, the center also encourages adults to carry paperwork, such as visas and work permits, at all times.
As part of that work, the center hosted a six-week program for families in conjunction with Boulder’s El Centro Amistad, giving families a place to talk about their fears, rights and plans for guardianship for kids if they’re detained, including providing a notary to sign off on guardianship forms.
“We spent a lot of time creating safety plans for our families,” Lyle said. “The more of a plan you have for your family, the less fear you have. The point of all these things is to create fear. The cruelty is the point.”
Another organization supporting students and families, the “I Have A Dream Foundation” of Boulder County, saw some students initially attend programs less frequently out of fear they would encounter law enforcement or ICE agents during their travel to after-school programs or on field trips.
Lead Senior Director Travis Herbert said attendance is returning to normal levels, though students are still feeling stress over changes that are being implemented by the Trump administration. “I Have A Dream” works with low-income students in Boulder Valley and St. Vrain Valley schools, providing after-school programs and mentors from elementary school through high school, plus additional support in college.
“Any time uncertainty becomes part of our daily experience, especially for vulnerable populations, it has an impact,” Herbert said. “Uncertainty seems to be a common theme we’re hearing. It’s hard to know what some of the policies mean on the ground and how students and families we work with will be impacted.”
He said staff members and mentors are checking in, one-on-one, more often with the 500-plus students in the program. The organization also offers free therapy sessions for staff members to help them process what’s happening.
“Our No. 1 job is to teach and create a positive learning environment for students to learn and grow,” he said. “We want to have a positive environment for young people to come to daily after school, where there are trusted adults they can talk to about what’s going on in their life. These after-school programs are so valuable, especially during times like these. In times of uncertainty and stress, it’s important to not lose the ability to dream about your future.”
Boulder Valley School District officials declined to comment on whether threats of immigration enforcement have impacted attendance or if the district is providing accommodations to students who are scared to attend school. The district has asked schools to direct any immigration enforcement requests to its legal counsel.
Following Trump’s election, the school board in December also approved a resolution reiterating support for students “regardless of their race, gender identity, legal status or any other factor.” In the resolution, the Board shared that the school district will “do everything in its lawful power to protect our students and families.”
Measures listed in the the resolution include continuing to not collect or maintain information about students’ or their families’ immigration status, handling all requests from immigration officials centrally, and protecting all students from discrimination, harassment, bullying and hate speech.
St. Vrain Valley officials said they haven’t seen an impact on attendance. The district has provided guidance to schools on the protocol to follow if immigration agents turn up at a school, but declined to provide details on that guidance.
Along with helping students and families worried about potential immigration enforcement, Lyle said, the Family Learning Center is working with other local organizations on a plan to address potential federal level changes. Concerns include budget cuts to Medicaid, impacts to students who receive special education services, cuts to Head Start, threats to withhold federal funding from school districts, and potential changes to college Pell grants awarded to students with high financial need.
“As a community, we need to start asking ourselves what we can do,” she said. “We don’t have a lot of control over what’s happening in Washington, D.C., but as a community we need a plan. I want to do that for our kids.”
The Family Learning Center is planning a series of community events, she said, including a meeting next week for educators and youth providers to talk about how to respond to potential impacts.
“We’re really trying to figure out how we’re going to help our kids survive in this 2025 universe,” she said. “Every non profit, we’re all in this together.”
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