On a crowded street corner, boxes of bananas, oranges, and mangos sit rotting in the sun. The owner didn’t just walk away, they were taken by federal agents in the middle of an order. This fruit stand is just an example of a much bigger problem. These arrests are creating fear that makes our communities feel less safe. Families are hiding, children are either missing or taken out of school completely, and detention centers are getting too crowded and dangerous. These new immigration laws are creating new problems instead of solving them.
When families are scared, schools suffer the most. When basic needs are being taken away from families, it makes it harder for families to survive. For students in these households, the stress can affect their concentration, lower test scores, and increase the amount of absences.
In Chelsea Massachusetts, for example, hundreds of students have left the school district because they were afraid of being detained. This has led to “potential loss of $5.4 millions” for the school districts (Fimbre and Rodgers). This isn’t just about money. It’s about “folks who are community staples…their presence is part of the vibrancy of so many neighborhoods” (Syed). When families are forced to hide, “The subsequent wage losses threaten families´ ability to pay for necessities like rent and utilities..”While these issues seem like statistics or issues on the news they are real life experiences that affect people everyday.
Some people argue that strict immigration laws are necessary to keep our streets safe from criminals. However, I saw the real impact of these laws myself at a memorial for Silverio Villegas-Gonzales in Franklin Park during my high school walk out. Villegas-Gonzales was a 38 year old father who was killed by federal agents during a traffic stop (Campa). Even though the agents claimed they were badly hurt, body cam footage showed that they were lying about their injuries even saying it was “nothing major”(Campa). While the agents claimed he was a dangerous person with a “history of reckless driving”but when Reuters investigated it turned out “he did not have a criminal record and only had traffic offense citations from 2011-2019”(Campa) These lies make it harder for people to trust the law enforcement officers who are supposed to be protecting the communities. Now neighbors are “pooling money” together to buy food in bulk just so they can keep street vendors and small businesses inside and avoid being arrested (Syed). This all just shows that we need a system that treats everyone with the same respect and not makes them question “this could have been me” (Campa) because a person’s background “does not define” their values as a human being.
Beyond the streets, there is a whole other side we don’t see behind walls in detention centers. It’s a place where human rights are being ignored or even taken away. Organizations have documented “extremely harsh and abusive detention conditions”. Including people being overcrowded and total “lack of medical care (Ramirez). Due to these poor conditions diseases like Influenza,Varicella, and Mumps “readily spread in ICE detention facilities (Fimbres and Rodgers) This doesn’t just hurt those inside these centers, these infections can spread to facility workers, “increasing the risk of spread to the outer communities” ( Fimbres and Rodgers). Other than serious outbreaks, several medical complications, chronic illnesses and untreated mental health crises” have caused about 17 people who have died in ICE custody just this year. This shows that the current system is a threat to the health of those both inside and outside of the walls.
The people being taken from our communities are the ones who make us come all together and grow. They belong in our schools and their jobs, not in dangerous facilities that put everyone’s health at risk. We need a system that treats every person with dignity and shows that a person’s background “ does not define one’s values as a human being” (Campa). When we allow our neighbors to be taken it shows that we are choosing fear over the people who actually make our neighborhoods feel like home.
Works Cited
Campa, Aydali. “‘This Could Have Been Anyone’: How a Fatal ICE Shooting Impacted Franklin Park Residents.” borderless, https://borderlessmag.org/2025/10/21/immigration-agents-trump-ice-fatal-shooting-silverio-villegas-gonzalez-franklin-park-chicago/
Fimbers, Jocelyn and Rodger, Kathryn “The Public Health Implications of ICE.” Public Health Post, Boston University School of Public Health” https://publichealthpost.org/health-equity/the-public-health-implications-of-ice/. Accessed 9 Apr. 2026.
“Ramirez, Ilse 6 Deaths in ICE Custody and 2 Fatal Shootings: A Horrific Start to 2026.” American Immigration Council, 11 Feb. 2026 https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/blog/ice-deaths-shootings-2026/
Syed, Zareen. “Chicago Street Vendors and ICE.” Chicago Tribune, 25 Nov. 2025, www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/25/chicago-street-vendors-ice/.
