The Trump administration announced Friday that most immigrants seeking green cards would have to return to their home country in order to apply, a seismic shift that could upend the lives of hundreds of thousands of people in the U.S. trying to secure legal residency.
Once abroad, it would require applicants to go through lengthy State Department consular processing.
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services said in a it would grant green cards to people in the country only in “extraordinary circumstances.”
“While we work to operationalize this, people who present applications that provide an economic benefit or otherwise are in the national interest will likely be able to continue on their current path while others may be asked to apply abroad depending on individualized circumstances,” agency spokesman Zach Kahler said in a statement.
Ernesto Casta帽eda, of American University, said the move would greatly impact foreign-born students and highly educated workers 鈥� and their families. Not only would the policy add an unwanted financial burden, he said, but it could separate parents from their children and open up additional opportunities for such applications to be denied.
Wendy Cervantes, of the Center for Law and Social Policy, called the move 鈥渄evastating.”
鈥淚t is clear they want to put up every possible barrier to make the already stressful immigration process nearly impossible,” she said.
Legal challenges to the policy change are expected.

Ten-year-old Bella Perez, from Manhattan, has had the same fear for months: She worries that her mother, who hails from the Dominican Republic, will be detained and deported, despite having a green card.聽

鈥淚鈥檓 scared because if someone takes her away, what am I supposed to do about it?鈥� the fifth grader said. 鈥淚鈥檝e been hearing that they are going to get arrested and thrown into trucks and stuff.鈥�

Bella鈥檚 mother was among nearly 300 immigrants who received free assistance filling out their naturalization applications during a May 16 event organized by the City University of New York鈥檚 program. 

The packed gathering at John Jay College of Criminal Justice comes as the Trump administration is moving away from enforcement operations in American cities and is instead trying to meet its deportation goals by pursuing other groups. These include green card holders, like Bella鈥檚 mom, and those covered by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, from which thousands of teachers have sprung. 

DACA kept participants from being deported and granted work authorization, much like another once-sought-after categorization, Special Immigrant Juvenile status, a foothold in the United States for young newcomers who were abused, abandoned or neglected by a parent back home. 

Roughly under 18 born in the U.S. lived with an unauthorized immigrant parent in 2023; an additional 1.5 million were unauthorized themselves at that time.

鈥淩eally, nobody is safe from deportation in this administration 鈥� particularly if they are from Latin America or Africa,鈥� said Ernesto Casta帽eda, director of the Center for Latin American and Latino Studies and the Immigration Lab at American University. 鈥淜ids are disappearing from classrooms.鈥�

And the pool of easily deportable immigrants might grow further still. 

The Supreme Court just last month heard oral arguments over , which grants hundreds of thousands of people from countries that are dangerously unstable the right to live and work here. That case involved Haitians and Syrians.

protection last year and others might soon join them. The high court will render a decision in either late June or early July, and the outcome would impact people from several other countries, including Somalia and El Salvador. 

鈥淒ACA is uncertain and TPS is basically gone,鈥� said Deborah Chen, associate director for the Immigrant Protection Unit at the New York Legal Assistance Group. 

Last June, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services announced that for those with Special Immigrant Juvenile 鈥� or SIJ 鈥� status and removed their work authorization. Chen said SIJ and U Visas 鈥� granted temporarily for victims of certain crimes who have suffered mental or physical abuse and can potentially help prosecutors 鈥� once held tremendous power. 

鈥淭hey used to be like magic words in court,鈥� she said.

Even the most desirable of all immigration statuses no longer leaves the holder immune from removal: The Trump administration recently targeted , alleging they concealed their support for terrorist groups or were guilty of war crimes, espionage or sexual abuse, according to the .

A 25-year-old green card holder at John Jay who declined to give her name for fear of deportation, said she鈥檚 been uneasy since January 2025. 

鈥淚t feels like it doesn鈥檛 even matter if I have the proper documentation,鈥� said the computer science major and Dominican native, who hopes to work in cybersecurity. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e going to find a reason 鈥� or create one 鈥� even if I don鈥檛 have anything on my record, just to kick me out.鈥�

The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement, refused to release the number of people it has arrested and detained in each immigration category. It did provide some information, which was not substantiated by outside sources, including that 2.2 million people have self-deported and 800,000 others were removed in Trump鈥檚 first year back in office. 

鈥淥ur message to illegal aliens is clear: LEAVE NOW. If you don鈥檛, we will find you, we will arrest you, and you will NEVER return,鈥� a DHS spokesperson wrote to 社区黑料.

Elora Mukherjee, the Jerome L. Greene Clinical Professor of Law at Columbia Law School, said many of the children and families she represents in court entered the United States lawfully through Biden-era humanitarian parole programs. 

The Trump administration has declared these programs 鈥� they help Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans 鈥� , terminating recipients鈥� employment authorization and ordering them to leave the country. 

鈥淪o all of those people who entered the United States lawfully and have been doing everything right 鈥� including the babies, toddlers and children whom I’m representing 鈥� are now at risk of arrest, detention and deportation,鈥� Mukherjee said. 

Her youngest client who falls in this category 鈥� and who got arrested 鈥� was 16 months old. 

鈥淚t’s horrible,鈥� she said. 

鈥楾he target is widening鈥�

For more than a year now, young immigrants have been retreating from the nation鈥檚 , missing out on valuable time in the classroom while they watch their opportunities for advancement evaporate.

Some graduate from U.S. high schools each year, and there were in post-secondary education 鈥� college or trade schools 鈥� here in 2024. 

Some campuses, in response to Trump鈥檚 ever-changing but aggressive immigration tactics, are hosting regular legal clinics inside their buildings to help worried students and their families. Previously, educators told 社区黑料, providing a young person with the name of an immigration advocate or lawyer was considered sufficient.

Staff, too, have stepped up, sometimes by accompanying kids to immigration court when their parents can鈥檛, fearful of their own deportation. 

One woman who works for New York City public schools and who asked to remain anonymous to protect her students, made such a trip earlier this year. She watched as a teen boy鈥檚 mother 鈥� stopping within a few blocks of the courthouse so she would not be apprehended 鈥� said goodbye to her child.

鈥淭he mother was in tears,鈥� the staffer told 社区黑料. 鈥淪he was hugging her son like she wasn’t going to see him again.鈥�

The boy, from Ecuador, was reunited with his family after his court appearance. But not all young immigrants return home.

鈥淚 started teaching immigrant students in public schools in 1979,鈥� said another New York City educator, who also asked not to be identified to shield her students. 鈥淎nd I would say it is the worst that I have ever seen, without question 鈥� and I鈥檓 talking about periods of massive factory raids in the 鈥�70s.鈥�

In 2023, some inside the United States were undocumented. More than 40% enjoyed some form of protection from deportation. 

There were nearly 38 million lawful immigrants 鈥� including almost 24 million naturalized citizens and just shy of 12 million legal permanent residents 鈥� in the country that year.

Immigrant advocates say Trump鈥檚 recent focus on naturalized citizens is a disturbing escalation of a long-standing goal. While his first administration took direct aim at some of these programs 鈥� it tried to , for example 鈥� its efforts were limited and often . 

Now, if it can鈥檛 annihilate such protections, immigrant advocates said, it can hobble them by narrowing their scope, , piling on , limiting immigrants鈥� and terrifying them to the point that they

Chen, of the New York Legal Assistance Group, said she doesn鈥檛 see a quick turnaround, even if congressional control changes hands. 

鈥淥ne of the problems of the immigration courts is that it’s under the executive branch,鈥� Chen said. 鈥淚t is not an independent judiciary. With immigration, they’re able to control a lot of things just by internal memo and internal policy.鈥�

A concerted plan to grow the undocumented population

America University鈥檚 Casta帽eda said he鈥檚 not surprised to see the administration go after immigrants for whom they already have identifying information, such as names and addresses. Even when that means targeting those or are the . 

鈥淔inding the undocumented 鈥� we’re talking about just 3% of the population 鈥� is actually hard and costly,鈥� Casta帽eda said. 鈥淒ACA is very easy because everybody has to, by definition, register.鈥�

As the Trump administration shifts its deportation tactics, one of its primary enforcement agencies is getting a new leader. David Venturella, a career Immigration and Customs Enforcement official who also spent time working as a private prison executive, to take over ICE, which carried out the killing of in Minneapolis earlier this year.  

A few weeks after Good was killed, Customs and Border Protection and border patrol agents sent to Minneapolis , setting off waves of national protests that forced He removed Kristi Noem as secretary of the Department of Homeland Security in March and replaced her with former Oklahoma senator Markwayne Mullin, who has said he wants to get DHS out of the headlines. 

While leadership changes have been made and, there鈥檚 no reported evidence that Trump is giving up .   

鈥淧art of that mass deportation agenda is to basically dismantle the legal immigration system,鈥� said Wendy Cervantes, director of the Immigration and Immigrant Families team at the Center for Law and Social Policy. 鈥淏ut we know that everything from the efforts to dismantle birthright citizenship, to strip away TPS, to weaken DACA protections, as well as make it harder to apply for lawful status 鈥� it’s all part of a concerted plan to grow the undocumented population.鈥�

ICE is routinely deporting from detention centers, according to the American Immigration Council. This figure does not include people who self-deport or those permitted by an immigration judge to voluntarily leave the country. 

鈥淭his is about who they want to define as an American and essentially saying that certain people here will never belong 鈥� and also that there are certain people here who we never want to see in power,鈥� Cervantes said.

Monique A. Francis, interim executive director of CUNY Citizenship Now!, said her organization has helped more than 240,000 people with their immigration paperwork through the years.

She said Saturday鈥檚 event drew a smaller crowd than usual because immigrants are discouraged by the belief their paperwork will be delayed, and others were afraid the session was a trap and ICE would be there to apprehend them.

Some, she said, are waiting for a new president to be seated in order to complete the naturalization process. But she thinks that鈥檚 a mistake.

鈥淚f you have been dreaming of this for the last five years,鈥� she said, 鈥渄on鈥檛 delay the process because of the current administration.鈥�

But while more schools are offering computer science than ever before, the majority of city students 鈥� in particular, Black and Hispanic students, low-income students and girls 鈥� still aren鈥檛 taking computer science courses. Just 17% of schools meet the program鈥檚 student participation and equity goals.

To ensure that thousands more New York City students can get on the path to well-paying technology-powered careers, this will have to change.

suggests that this will be possible only by training more future teachers, at all grade levels and in every subject, to integrate into their classrooms the core concepts of computing education: the ability to ask questions, organize data and solve problems with computers.

Although when the concepts are woven throughout the curriculum, and when multiple teachers in a school have the training to implement those concepts and support computer learning, most schools still have just one or two teachers with computer education training.

A new program at the City University of New York is ready-made to address that need. The Computing Integrated Teacher Education (CITE) program, launched with funding from the Robin Hood Learning + Technology Fund, Google, Gotham Gives and NYC Public Schools, trains future teachers to use computing concepts in a broad range of subjects, from social studies to science, and at every grade level. 

CITE works by engaging CUNY faculty to build computing and digital literacy into required education courses and student teaching practice. More than just a one-off workshop or seminar, the initiative is a year-round effort to help CUNY鈥檚 education faculty develop the skills needed to train future teachers in equitable, culturally relevant computing pedagogy. Crucially, CITE also supports groundbreaking faculty research on topics ranging from integrating computing concepts into early-childhood education to building digital literacy curricula for special education teachers.

Training new teachers at CUNY has the greatest potential to meet the shortfall. NYC鈥檚 public schools have made progress in providing professional development in computing education to more than 4,000 classroom teachers since 2015. But in a system with more than 75,000 educators and significant turnover, that鈥檚 just a drop in the bucket. 

Nearly one-third of the new teachers hired by the district each year graduate from CUNY. At the same time, experts estimate that fewer than 5% of CUNY鈥檚 teacher education graduates are equipped to teach computational thinking and digital literacy. In part, that鈥檚 because CITE is still relatively small. Fewer than half of CUNY鈥檚 education faculty have participated in the program to date, and its practices are only just beginning to become embedded in CUNY鈥檚 teacher education programs. As a result, most aspiring educators-in-training at CUNY do not yet receive instruction and coaching in equitable computing education practices.

This is a missed opportunity. By expanding the CITE program to reach every aspiring teacher enrolled at CUNY, the district can add more than 8,000 new educators with computing education knowledge and credentials in just five years. 

That鈥檚 why Mayor Eric Adams should work with the City Council to fully fund the CITE program so it reaches more of CUNY鈥檚 education faculty and all future teachers enrolled at CUNY鈥檚 education schools. Sustained support would help the CITE team research, test and expand training, coaching and leadership development programs in equitable computing education for both aspiring and current educators and school leaders, further extending CITE鈥檚 impact on the public schools.

The city should also establish a Computing Education Fellowship to encourage more aspiring teachers 鈥� particularly from low-income communities 鈥� to gain fluency in computing education regardless of their area of specialization and bring the benefits back to their communities. To be effective, the fellowship should include an expanded teacher residency program focused on ensuring placements in New York City public schools for CUNY student teachers trained in computer education, and it should offer scholarships for aspiring teachers from low-income backgrounds to help make a degree with a computing education focus more affordable.

The long-term benefits of building a computationally fluent workforce are clear. Since 2010, New York City鈥檚 tech sector has added 114,000 middle- and high-wage jobs, growing by 142% 鈥� more than seven times faster than the city鈥檚 economy overall.

But the fruits of this expansion have not been distributed equitably. Tech industry jobs are held disproportionately by white, male New Yorkers. Though Black and Hispanic employees make up 43% of the city鈥檚 overall workforce, they account for only 21% of the tech sector, women comprise just 24%. 

Building a more equitable economy, one in which people of color and women are fully represented in the city鈥檚 high-paid technology workforce, means encouraging far more young people to learn the fundamentals of computer science. The best way to do that is to invest now in training New York City鈥檚 future teachers to become champions of equitable computing education.

It was 2004. A Honduran immigrant who鈥檇 arrived with her family in the late 1990s, she secured a slot at a local community college, but reality hit when a counselor revealed her first semester鈥檚 tuition: $700, up front.

鈥淚 didn’t have that kind of money,鈥� Alvarado said. And her high school offered scant advice on how to pay for it. 鈥淪o I started working,” first as a daycare assistant, then in a series of manufacturing jobs, all while raising two kids on her own.

Now 37, Alvarado works for , the manufacturer of those ubiquitous plastic Hefty cups.

But this fall, 19 years after she graduated from high school, she鈥檚 about to get a second chance at college, compliments of an unusual benefactor: her oldest daughter.

Alvarado鈥檚 first-born, Yolany Baltazar, is among the first beneficiaries of , an unusual experiment in college access. Like many 鈥渃ollege promise鈥� programs, it essentially offers a free ride to a bachelor鈥檚 degree, covering tuition and fees for students who graduate from high school and persist through college.

But in Baltazar鈥檚 case, there鈥檚 a difference: Once she made it through her first semester, Hope Chicago made the same life-changing offer to her mother.

It鈥檚 part of a 鈥渢wo-generation鈥� approach to attacking poverty, said Janice Jackson, Hope Chicago鈥檚 CEO. She noted that many college access organizations that support low-income families often 鈥渢inker around the edges, instead of going to where we know we need to go: making sure that there is much more of a pathway to the middle class.鈥�

Advocates say research shows that greater access for both groups increases parents鈥� earnings and encourages kids to stay enrolled long enough to graduate.

鈥楢 different conversation鈥�

If Jackson鈥檚 name sounds familiar, it鈥檚 because she spent four years, from 2017 to 2021, as CEO of Chicago Public Schools, the fourth-largest district in the U.S.

鈥淭he thing about Hope Chicago is [that] when you first hear about it, it almost seems too good to be true,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淎nd I think that’s the response that a lot of people have.鈥�

Once they sit with the idea a while, she said, many begin to ask why it isn鈥檛 true everywhere. 鈥淲hy don’t we have a system in place so that kids across this country, quite frankly, can continue their education, and that finances are not the biggest barrier to them?鈥�

At the moment, Hope Chicago has agreements with just five city high schools, offering graduates and their parents free access to 28 colleges, most of them Illinois public four-year and community colleges, along with a handful of private institutions.

Students must gain admission based on their own academic achievements 鈥� Hope Chicago doesn鈥檛 ask colleges to change their admissions criteria. And the program has no GPA cutoff, so students remain eligible to continue as long as they鈥檙e enrolled in classes.

But those who drop out also make their parents ineligible 鈥� a bit of subtle, intra-family peer pressure to stay in the game.

鈥淪tudents obviously can go if their parents don’t go, but parents cannot take advantage of this unless their child is enrolled in school full-time,鈥� Jackson said. 鈥淪o they have an incentive, right? If I’m a parent and I’m in school and things are working out, but my child wants to drop out, that’s a different conversation.鈥�

She said Hope Chicago deliberately chose its five high schools for the greatest possible impact, working in buildings that had seen 鈥渄ecades of chronic disinvestment,鈥� lower achievement levels and graduation rates.

The focus, she said, is on helping the entire school. 鈥淚t’s really about making a big difference.鈥�

Baltazar, 20, still remembers the day she learned about the program in February 2022, at an assembly at Benito Juarez Community Academy on Chicago鈥檚 west side.

She texted her mother to warn her to stay off social media until she could deliver the news herself, Baltazar said. 鈥淲hen she picked me up from school, she was like, 鈥榃hat have you got to tell me?鈥� I’m like, 鈥楳om, we get to go to college debt-free!鈥欌��

Alvarado was dumbstruck. 鈥淚 was really happy if she got the opportunity to go [to college], just herself or my kids,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut for me, it was a little bit hard to process.鈥�

In a few years, Alvarado鈥檚 younger son, 16-year-old Adrian, also a Hope Chicago scholar, will be able to attend college for free when he graduates from Benito Juarez.

鈥業n the center of a tornado鈥�

The program launched in early 2022, with a from two philanthropists, Pete Kadens and Ted Koenig. Jackson wants to raise another $1 billion over the next decade to expand it and make more families eligible.

Recent research shows that these more educated parents will almost certainly earn more money 鈥� about $4,000 annually, according to , even though many are already years into their careers. 

But multi-generational college enrollment not only benefits parents. It also has a significant 鈥渟pill-over effect鈥� on their children. One reason is obvious: Parental education is a strong predictor of whether a student will attend college. 

A recent study by City University of New York economist noted that children whose parents are college graduates are three times as likely to attend college themselves. Investing in multigenerational college-goers, he said, is 鈥渆conomically efficient.鈥� 

When Hope Chicago came to Ajani Cunningham鈥檚 school, Johnson College Prep, in spring 2022, it was co-founder Kadens who told an assembly of students they鈥檇 be going to college for free. Cunningham鈥檚 mother, Yolanda White, was filming the moment with her mobile phone and began crying. But then Jackson, Hope Chicago鈥檚 CEO, joined Kadens onstage and told the parents they were also eligible for free college. 鈥淎nd then the uproar was, like, magnified a thousand times,鈥� Cunningham recalled.

鈥淚t was almost like 鈥� what people describe as being in the center of a tornado,鈥� White said. 鈥淚 think [Kadens] broke my brain because I could not react. I just .鈥�

But stunned as she was, she knew immediately what she would do with her good fortune: finish her culinary education.

The 50-year-old mother of five had earned an associate鈥檚 degree at the for-profit Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Chicago in 2014, which closed in 2017, part of a of for-profit closures. 

She studied to be a pastry chef and nutritionist and has spent the past few years running an online bakery called . She also created and teaches a handful of home economics and mentoring courses for Chicago Public Schools. 

White dreams of earning a bachelor鈥檚 degree and teaching people how to source and eat higher-quality, locally grown food, especially in so-called urban 鈥渇ood deserts.鈥� She knows these issues firsthand: In the eight-year period when she and her five kids were homeless, White recalled, 鈥淚 had to make $20 work鈥� for a week’s worth of meals. 鈥淎nd they were never hungry.鈥�

White plans to study at Kendall College鈥檚 Culinary Arts School in Chicago, but she鈥檚 holding off on enrolling for a year while she figures out how to cut back her hours at the district. She also needs to put the online bakery on hiatus.

鈥淲hen someone presents the physical manifestation of a lifelong dream to you,鈥� she said, 鈥測ou kind of have to pay attention to that.鈥�

Meanwhile her son will matriculate this fall at Loyola University Chicago, thanks to Hope Chicago, studying psychology while planning for law school and a career in civil rights law.

鈥楢 different life鈥�

The organization鈥檚 efforts unfold as the district faces an odd mixture of crisis and confidence: While Chicago Public Schools in 2022 boasted a record-high graduation rate of 83%, just one-fifth of high school students were reading and doing math at grade level, according to the . And nearly half of students missed at least 18 days of school.

Hope Chicago says its work is already having an impact: An April report by Belfield, the City University scholar, found that college enrollment rates averaged 74% 鈥� a 17% increase 鈥� in the organization鈥檚 first year partnering with the five schools.

The program is looking to expand 鈥� at the moment it serves about 4,000 students, and is fund-raising both publicly and privately with hopes of announcing more high schools in the future.

While the two-generation approach is unique, the program operates in the tradition of 鈥渃ollege promise鈥� programs that for nearly 20 years have guaranteed tuition-free access to higher education. The movement began in 2005, in , and now counts more than 300 programs in at least 32 states, according to the .

The offers Kalamazoo Public Schools graduates up to 100% of tuition and fees at in-state public universities and community colleges. A found that six years after high school graduation, students in the program had higher rates of college credential attainment 鈥� 46%, up from about 36% before 2005. 

While the researchers said making college free won鈥檛 necessarily ensure that more students enroll, they found that offering a 鈥渟imple, universal, and generous scholarship program鈥� can significantly increase educational attainment, especially among low-income students.

Last spring, Baltazar finished her first year at in Normal, Ill., about a two-hour drive south of Chicago. Studying biology and pre-dentistry, she spent much of her freshman year adjusting to dorm life.

Baltazar had the advantage of bunking with a friend she鈥檇 known since middle school. She made new friends by simply leaving the dorm room door ajar and playing music.

Meanwhile, her mother is putting the finishing touches on an application to attend , an online program, in August. She plans to study finance while keeping her job at Pactiv Evergreen, and still can鈥檛 get over her good fortune 鈥� or her daughter鈥檚. 

鈥淚 think just the idea of her going to school without any debt, and including myself, is just like 鈥︹�� She paused for a second. 鈥淚n four or five years, this is just a different life.鈥�