Deportations require tough choices. Here’s an easy one: Leave schoolkids out of it | Opinion

The Trump administration’s blizzard of policy pronouncements and executive orders has driven immigration news to a back burner. But in Texas, it’s always front of mind.

A local substitute teacher reportedly made sure that Fort Worth was the epicenter, too, with an online post encouraging Immigration and Customs Enforcement to come to North Side High School and arrest students. The commenter apparently assumed that because many students there primarily speak Spanish, they are in the country illegally.

This is an isolated incident, though it has echoes in a similar post made by a full-time Fort Worth ISD teacher years ago. The district is investigating, and whoever wrote the newer screed should never serve as a substitute again. We’re concerned what the post indicates about how quickly vigorous immigration enforcement could spin out of control, jeopardize Texas’ future and even harden hearts to children.

Confusion remains about how exactly the new administration is going about fulfilling its promise to ramp up deportations. Trump officials have consistently said they are targeting those who’ve committed serious crimes but that others in the country illegally could be caught up in enforcement operations.

That’s lamentable and unnecessary. And it could end up undermining the very goal to remove dangerous people who clearly should not remain here.

Even if Congress and the administration throw unprecedented resources at deportation, the job of getting the highest-profile migrants out of the country is daunting. Last summer, ICE reported, in response to a request from San Antonio Republican Congressman Tony Gonzales, that nearly 663,000 noncitizens with criminal histories were in its caseloads. About two-thirds are serving sentences in federal or state prison.

In September, ICE reported that nearly 1.3 million people have been issued final deportation orders. They’ve had their day in court and been ordered to leave.

That doesn’t even get into the millions allowed in by the Biden administration, many of whom are awaiting asylum hearings that won’t come for years. So, why would we bother with the law-abiding mechanic who works alongside a convicted criminal, let alone with North Side High students?

The most people ICE has ever deported in a year was about 410,000. The government has the capacity to detain 41,000, to which Trump wants to add 30,000 with a new facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Such a step would open the door to more human-rights abuses in the name of immigration enforcement, given the isolation of the American naval base there.

Trump’s success in changing the debate on immigration is inarguable. Polls consistently indicate that Americans now favor deporting all those who are in the country illegally, though that support slips when they are asked about certain actions or groups of people.

The point here is that beyond the rhetoric, beyond ambitious new quotas driven from the top of the new administration, there are logistical limits to deportations. Priorities must be set.

That brings us back to North Side High and, frankly, most Texas public schools. Of the 5.3 million students enrolled in the state, more than 53% are Hispanic. In pre-K enrollment, the figure approaches 70%. This is the future of Texas, and the vast majority are citizens, even if they and their families speak Spanish.

Disrupting their education, even perhaps causing some to miss school out of fear, is a disservice to all Texans. If we’re prioritizing deportation — and there’s no scenario in which choices can be avoided — these kids will be among the lowest on the list. They’re likely to remain here, and it’s in everyone’s interest that they be educated.

We know, too, that many Hispanic students continue to need help. The latest results in the National Assessment of Educational Progress, known as the Nation’s Report Card, released Jan. 29, show they lag their white counterparts in vital reading and math skills, with gaps widening in some key subjects.

We can debate what the federal government owes Texas for the decades-long burden of illegal immigration, including in its schools. What we must not do is force young students, including those here illegally, to bear the costs.

All of them deserve teachers, including substitutes, who understand that.