Cassidy sent information requests to 35 universities.
Bill Clark/CQ–Roll Call Inc./Getty Images
A Senate committee chair has launched an investigation into what he says is a decline in how prepared freshmen accepted into selective institutions are for math courses there.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, announced Friday that he’s sent letters to 35 institutions, including Ivy League universities, the Georgia Institute of Technology, Rice University and more.
“The United States faces a crisis in student achievement at the K–12 level that has begun to spill over into higher education, especially in math,” Cassidy wrote in the letters.
He cited the widely discussed November report from the University of California, San Diego, in which a university working group said that one in 12 first-year students in the fall placed into math below a middle school level, despite having a solid math grade point average from high school.
“This state of affairs is unacceptable and demands immediate corrective action,” Cassidy said.
He’s asking each of these institutions to provide data on freshman placement into math courses, explanations of how placements are decided, information on math classes that include precollege content, descriptions of universitywide math graduation requirements and info on whether they require the SAT, ACT or other math tests for admission. The due date is Feb. 5.
A Cassidy spokesperson didn’t respond to requests for comment Friday on why he’s only investigating selective institutions.
The UC San Diego report provided some reasons for its first-year students’ math deficits.
“This deterioration coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on education, the elimination of standardized testing, grade inflation, and the expansion of admissions from under-resourced high schools,” the report said. “The combination of these factors has produced an incoming class increasingly unprepared.”
Student advocates say the department’s decision could allow for fraud at the cost of taxpayers.
Greggory DiSalvo/iStock/Getty Images Plus
The Trump administration will no longer automatically enforce an accountability measure for the owners of private institutions that consumer advocacy groups say is critical to protecting students and taxpayers.
The regulation was originally put in place by the Biden administration, first as guidance and then in regulations. Under the policy, primary owners of for-profit and nonprofit colleges were required to sign onto a contract, known as a Program Participation Agreement, in order for their institution to access federal student aid. The aim of requiring the individual or corporation who owns an institution to sign onto the PPA signature requirement was to hold them accountable for unpaid debts, misuse of federal funding and compliance with federal aid law.(PPAs still have be signed by the president or CEO of the institution.)
But now, according to a Jan. 16 announcement, the owners will not always have to assume personal liability after ED voluntarily settled with a Missouri Christian college that challenged the requirement. The education secretary does, however, reserve the right to require signatures on a case-by-case basis if necessary to “protect the financial interest of the United States.”
Education Under Secretary Nicholas Kent said the change will maintain liability standards as much as possible while abiding by the law, which limits the department’s authority to force owners to assume personal liability to circumstances when “institutions have financial problems.” The department intends to further clarify how it will conduct case-by-case evaluations through a rule-making session but did not clarify when that session will be held.
“The Biden Administration’s regulation was over broad as it required all private institutional owners, including at faith-based colleges, to sign program participation agreements,” Kent said in a statement to Inside Higher Ed. “Moving forward, the Trump Administration will adhere to the law … This approach will protect taxpayers while not creating undue burden on institutions.”
Student and taxpayer advocates, however, view the decision as a major mistake—particularly because it extends beyond nonprofit religious institutions like the one behind the lawsuit, granting more flexibility to for-profit institutions as well.
“Taking the blanket signature requirement away does nothing to protect students. It does nothing to protect the taxpayer interest. Really, the only people with benefits are those who could be held financially responsible,” said Dan Zibel, vice president and chief counsel of Student Defense, a legal advocacy group.
He cited newscoverage and research reports as evidence that the owners of some for-profit institutions can access federal aid and take advantage of students. But when those owners were forced to sign a PPA contract, they could be less freely inclined to defraud students, he explained.
It forced them to “acknowledge their own skin in the game,” Zibel said. So by halting the enforcement of these contracts, particularly for for-profit owners, the department “is sorely misguided and makes it harder, not easier, for the department to protect students and taxpayers.”
Hannibal-LaGrange University and its sponsor, the Missouri Baptist Convention, argued in the lawsuit that the department’s requirement exceeded the agency’s statutory authority and violated the Religious Freedom Restoration Act. Other private institutions and their lobbyists have also pushed back, saying many of LaGrange’s arguments extend to nonreligious institutions and corporate owners.
Jordan Wicker, Career Education Colleges and Universities’ senior vice president of legislative and regulatory affairs, called the change “a meaningful course correction” for “unintended consequences” and institutional burdens created by the regulation.
“The 2023 rule … made the risk to institutions significantly greater when it comes to routine recertifications, acquisitions, ownership changes, any corporate restructuring or even simple business financial transactions,” Wicker said. “Particularly for proprietary institutions, you’re looking at a dampening effect of the market, or the devaluation of schools because of hesitancy for new capital to enter that space.”
“[Signing on for liability] is an extraordinary risk in the world of business and operations, and so it created a hesitancy,” he added.
Lawyers at Duane Morris LLP, a law firm that represents public, private, nonprofit and proprietary colleges, said the decision was “significant for institutions and their owners, sponsors, investors and lenders because it responds to significant adverse effects” of the rule.
In a breakdown of the announcement, the firm noted that while ED is now requiring officials to sign the agreements only when necessary, the department only has the authority, in their view, to allow individual owners to take on liability—not full corporate entities.
As a result, “the market effects will likely persist to some extent unless the issue is fully resolved through final, legally sustainable regulatory action,” the firm stated.
But Zibel argued that the fact businesses are wary of taking on liability shows why this regulation is necessary and conforms with the law.
“For-profit companies have been able to make sizable profits and scam students, which has cost the federal government and cost taxpayers billions of dollars, with no one at the end of the day held financially accountable for this,” he said. “The federal government should be doing everything in their power to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Zibel also believes that the way in which the department terminated enforcement of this policy is illegal. Federal law requires the department to go through a specific process, known as negotiated rule making, to both create and repeal regulations. That process includes opportunity for public comment as well as a discussion between representatives of multiple constituent groups and the department. None of those steps were followed in this case.
“Doing things by settlement is not how this is supposed to happen,” he said.
George Washington University is pausing admissions to five Ph.D. programs for fall 2026, citing financial hardships.
According to social mediaposts, applicants to the programs received emails last week alerting them that the programs “will not be reviewing applications for the 2026–2027 academic year.” The emails went on to say that their application fees would be refunded and offered them the opportunity to be considered for master’s programs instead.
The Ph.D. programs affected are in clinical psychology, anthropology, human paleobiology, political science and mathematics.
A university spokesperson attributed the pauses to financial difficulties.
“Like many universities, we are taking a close look at how best to support our PhD programs while maintaining the highest standards in doctoral education in a difficult fiscal environment. Our recent actions do not reflect a long-term closure or suspension of programs,” the spokesperson told Inside Higher Ed in an email. “Rather, they represent a need to limit new commitments in order to ensure that we fully meet our funding commitments to continuing PhD students” in those five departments.
Two faculty members told Inside Higher Ed that the university was also slashing the total number of Ph.D. packages across all departments within the Columbian College of Arts & Sciences. GWU did not respond to a question about those additional cuts.
The suspensions follow other instances of high-profile institutions slashing admissions to Ph.D. programs due to budget concerns, including Boston University, the University of Chicago and Harvard University. In a recent Faculty Senate meeting, GWU president Ellen Granberg asked the university’s schools and divisions to prepare “budget contingency plans” amid declines in applications from international students, the student newspaper, The GW Hatchet, reported. International students accounted for about 13 percent of the institution’s enrollment this fall, a decrease from the previous year.
Huynh-Nhu Le, who leads the clinical psychology Ph.D. program, said that faculty have been aware for a while that cuts might be coming. In addition to declines in international students, GWU has been a victim of the Trump administration’s research funding cuts. And the program’s cohort size was already shrinking; for fall 2025, the clinical psych Ph.D. admitted a record low three students, down from the typical eight or nine.
But Le didn’t expect that the program would admit no new students for fall 2026. The pause came as a result of the College of Arts & Sciences allocating just two slots for its three doctoral psychology programs combined. Because the American Psychological Association requires a minimum number of students in a clinical psychology Ph.D. cohort to promote “professional socialization,” Le decided not to admit any this year.
The decision is likely to have a “ripple effect” on GWU’s clinic, Le said, where first-year students typically perform vital duties like answering phones and conducting intake appointments.
‘Hoping It’s an Anomaly’
Other departments had to make similarly difficult decisions. According to Joel Brewster Lewis, an associate mathematics professor and the director of the department’s graduate programs, annual Ph.D. funding packages are decided by the dean’s office. This year, the amount of funding available to the mathematics department was equivalent to the number of continuing Ph.D. students in the department, meaning there was no funding available for new students.
“We as a department opted to continue their funding next year rather than defund them and run admissions on those packages,” Lewis wrote in an email.
In the human paleobiology program, funding for an incoming Ph.D. student would have been available only if a current student graduated this summer, according to Alison Brooks, a professor in the anthropology department and a faculty member within the Center for the Advanced Study of Human Paleobiology. One student is on track to graduate this summer, she said, but by the time the department knows for sure, it would be too late to admit another student.
GWU’s human paleobiology Ph.D. program is one of the most recognized at the institution, Brooks said. In a typical year, the program admits roughly three students.
“We have very high numbers of graduates in tenure-track jobs and other prestigious positions. Two members of our small faculty are in the National Academy of Science and Medicine. And generally we get some funding every year to support research initiatives, in addition to outside funding, to carry on with what we do,” she said. “We’re not necessarily being singled out, but we’re not being preferred, either.”
Le, of the clinical psychology Ph.D. program, said she hopes this year is just a “blip.”
“It’s really unfortunate. It’s not only our program—I think other clinical programs in the U.S. are going through the same thing,” she said. “I’m hoping it’s an anomaly for this year.”
Degree apprenticeships, programs that let students earn a college degree while gaining paid work experience, are a fast-growing model in education and workforce development. But new research from the think tank New America finds access to them remains limited and uneven.
A report released this month by New America’s Center on Education & Labor found that about 350 institutions nationwide offered nearly 600 degree apprenticeship programs integrated with associate, bachelor’s or master’s degrees, preparing students for 91 different occupations.
Among institutions that offer them, degree apprenticeships are concentrated in a small number of fields, with K–12 teaching and registered nursing accounting for the largest share.
Ivy Love, a senior policy analyst at New America, said degree apprenticeships are especially valuable for states facing teacher or nurse shortages.
“These are two rapidly growing professional areas for degree apprenticeships,” Love said. “There is an opportunity to make these paths into these professions more accessible.”
Degree apprenticeships combine paid work experience, on-the-job training, employer-aligned classroom instruction and recognized credentials with an associate, bachelor’s or master’s degree. Learners participate in work-based learning while completing coursework—known as related technical instruction—at a college or university that aligns with what they are learning on the job.
These programs are emerging at a moment of growing skepticism about the value of a college degree. In New America’s Varying Degrees 2025 survey, just 52 percent of adults—a slim majority—said a postsecondary credential is the minimum level of education they believe a close family member needs to ensure financial security.
At the same time, New America found that earning a postsecondary degree remains the surest path to economic stability and family-supporting wages. In 2024, households with two adults needed to earn more than $100,000 a year to support two children—a level of pay that typically requires at least an associate degree, the report said.
Lancy Downs, a senior policy analyst at New America, said one story that stood out in the report came from an administrator at an Alabama community college where more than half the students attend part-time. The administrator explained that this is because school is optional, but work is not.
“We see [degree apprenticeships] as an effective way to upskill people into higher-paying jobs with more upward mobility,” Downs said. “They also help bring more people into professions well suited for this model, allowing students to earn a paycheck, attend school and take on minimal debt at the same time.”
The findings: The report found that programs that prepare K–12 teachers made up 156 of the nearly 600 degree apprenticeships identified, while registered nursing programs accounted for 51. Other positions represented include electro-mechanical and mechatronics technologists and technicians, electricians, and industrial engineering technologists and technicians.
With the exception of teaching, most degree apprenticeship opportunities are concentrated at the associate-degree level. Two-thirds of the programs awarded associate degrees, 29 percent awarded bachelor’s degrees and 4 percent awarded master’s degrees, according to the report. Most associate-level credentials were associate of applied science degrees.
Love said occupational requirements are the main factor driving these patterns: Careers in teaching typically require a bachelor’s degree, while nursing careers can be started with an associate degree.
“Community colleges have been really involved in degree apprenticeships, many of them for quite some time,” Love said. She noted that although some universities offer degree apprenticeships as well, community colleges’ “workforce orientation” gives them more familiarity with the model, and two-year institutions are more likely to have close connections to employers in technical fields.
The report also found that rural and small-town colleges are disproportionately represented among institutions offering teacher apprenticeships, suggesting degree apprenticeships in teaching are shaped by local workforce needs.
Downs said she suspects the prevalence of the “grow-your-own” model in teacher training explains this pattern.
“It’s possible that the prevalence of those already in teaching contributed to the overrepresentation in many rural communities,” Downs said.
The implications: Downs said degree apprenticeships’ small program size, reliance on public funding and other structural factors must be addressed for programs to succeed.
“We don’t really fund degree apprenticeships the same way we fund K–12 schools or even higher education,” Downs said, noting that most funding comes from “one-off” federal grants.
“More funding is needed to get [degree apprenticeship] programs up and off the ground and figure out how to run them sustainably,” she said.
Beyond funding, Downs said the programs also need to be thoughtfully designed to meet the needs of the students they serve.
“If you can get credit for what you’re learning on the job, you don’t have to sit in a classroom to learn the same thing again. It makes the programs more efficient for learners and employers, which we support,” Downs said.
Love said the degree apprenticeship model allows students to combine the benefits of work and education in a single pathway.
“This is a ‘yes, and’ strategy,” Love said. “Through [degree apprenticeship] programs, we hope to learn more in the coming years about how they open pathways to important professions while giving people another option that brings the best of both worlds together.”
Get more content like this directly to your inbox. Subscribe here.
Mnookin will be the fourth leader in three years at Columbia.
DNY59/iStock/Getty Images
Columbia University has selected Jennifer Mnookin, a legal scholar and current chancellor at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, as its next president.
Jennifer L. Mnookin
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Mnookin has led the Wisconsin flagship since 2022 and will remain in her role through the spring commencement. Before taking the top spot at UW-Madison, she served as dean of the UCLA School of Law.
Mnookin will be the fourth leader in three years at Columbia. Since 2023 the institution has been disrupted by student protests, faced $400 million in cuts to federal research funding and agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement with the Trump administration.
Mnookin will replace Claire Shipman, the former co-chairperson of the Board of Trustees, who has been acting president since March 2025, when interim president Katrina Armstrong resigned. Armstrong took over for Minouche Shafik, who was the university’s last permanent president and resigned in August 2024.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Columbia chose Mnookin because of her success navigating polarized politics in Wisconsin and dealing with the federal government.
During her tenure, Mnookin launched programs guaranteeing full financial support for Pell-eligible in-state students and for undergraduates who are members of federally recognized Wisconsin American Indian tribes and pursuing their first degree. She also increased the institution’s research spending to $1.93 billion, making it the fifth-highest-ranked institution in the country for research expenditures.
Her term has not been without controversy, though. Last July, the institution closed its diversity, equity and inclusion office amid scrutiny into its funding from Republican state lawmakers. In October, the university announced cost-cutting measures after it had federal grants terminated and received stop-work orders on some projects.
In a statement, Mnookin said her time at UW-Madison has been “life-changing.”
“It has been a true honor to be a part of the Wisconsin family. I am proud of what we have accomplished together, even in a challenging period for higher education, and I know great possibilities lie ahead for the UW-Madison campus community.”
Jay Rothman, president of the Universities of Wisconsin, extended “substantial gratitude” to Mnookin.
“During her tenure, Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin brought unbounded energy, resilience and deeply thoughtful leadership to this great university,” Rothman said.
State universities would be responsible for portions of students’ defaulted loans under legislation advanced Wednesday by an Iowa House subcommittee.
House Study Bill 540 would require state universities to offset 25% of a borrower’s liability if they default on an educational loan taken out to attend the institution. This means the university would be liable for 25% of what the student owes.
More than 40% of Iowa public college graduates finish their education debt-free, Iowa Board of Regents State Relations Officer Jillian Carlson said, and those who do take out loans receive financial counseling early in their college career “to help them right-size their debt and advise them on not taking out more than they need.”
“One question or concern that we do have is to clarify whether students who default on their loans are actually defaulting because they’re unable to make the payments, versus defaulting on their loans because they know that we would pick up 25% of the bill when they actually do have the resources to make the payments,” Carlson said.
Rep. Heather Matson, D-Ankeny, said there are important, practical questions on the topic of universities potentially being liable for defaulted loans that are not answered in the bill, such as where the money to take on these debts would come from. She also asked whether it should be the responsibility of a university to “be on the hook for” part of a loan in certain situations, like if a graduate finds themself in medical debt and must decide how they’ll use their money to stay safe and healthy.
“I think it’s important to recognize that the majority party talks a lot about personal responsibility, especially when it comes to student loans,” Matson said. “So I’m curious as to why you all are proposing to put a graduate’s financial decisions back onto a university if personal responsibility for student loans is so incredibly important.”
Rep. Jeff Shipley, R-Fairfield, said during the subcommittee meeting he believes the idea presented in the bill has “some merit.” He and subcommittee chair Rep. Taylor Collins, R-Mediapolis, approved the legislation to move to the Iowa House Higher Education Committee.
“My general thoughts are, we need to make sure we have some skin in the game when it comes to … the future employment of these individuals, once they graduate,” Collins said.
Iowa Capital Dispatch is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Iowa Capital Dispatch maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Kathie Obradovich for questions: [email protected].
Did you use this article in your work?
We’d love to hear how The 74’s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how
Sorry kids, New York City students will still not have a traditional snow day, no matter how many inches fall.
School will be in session on Monday, whether in-person or remote, Mayor Zohran Mamdani said on Friday as he provided an update on the preparations for a potentially massive winter storm heading to the area over the weekend.
The mayor said he will make the final decision by noon on Sunday whether classes will pivot to remote learning. The city is also canceling Sunday’s Public School Athletic League activities as well as any other Sunday school events.
“I have to apologize to the students that we’re hoping for a different answer for a traditional snow day,” Mamdani said during a press briefing on the storm, acknowledging that the city has no flexibility in its calendar to cancel instructional days.
New York City schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels said the city was committed to swiftly sharing information about schools.
“We know that families need timely, clear information to plan their schedules,” Samuels said.
He also said that schools will be flexible in their approach to remote learning.
“No one is asking kids to be on a device for six hours and 20 minutes,” Samuels said. “Some learning will be synchronous. Some will be asynchronous. You can still have your hot chocolate, you can still go out and enjoy the snow.”
Education Department officials are encouraging students and staff to log in to remote learning platforms over the weekend to make sure they can connect and to avoid technical glitches Monday morning, according to a letter to principals obtained by Chalkbeat. School leaders were also encouraged to stagger school start times for each grade level by 15-minute increments “to ensure a smooth login experience,” the email states.
The National Weather Service is predicting up to 14 inches in the metropolitan region, and the city is gearing up. Schools across the five boroughs are reaching out to their students to ensure they have devices and understand how to log on in the event of a remote school day.
This is the first major logistical test for the mayor and his new chancellor. A big chunk of the city’s nearly 900,000 students — all high school students and those attending 6-12 schools — already had the day off for a teacher professional development day. But the day might be complicated for many parents of young children: They might be frustrated with remote learning and prefer that their kids play outside, or they might be scrambling for child care, especially if they must work in-person.
Many families also depend on schools to provide their children breakfast and lunch.
“We are preparing for the possibility of remote such that we do not repeat those mistakes of the past,” Mamdani said.
Samuels recalled the 2024 remote snow day as a “day that will live in infamy” and said, “We’ve stress tested the system, both in person with students logging in and as well. We’ve had simulations so we are prepared now.”
The most recent test, Samuels said, was in December.
“We’ve increased the capacity to make sure that we can house as many students as possible on that day,” Samuels added. “So we now have the capacity of having a million students logging at the same time within 60 seconds.”
The mayor and chancellor offered conflicting messages this week about whether closing school altogether, with no remote learning, could be an option. Samuels said on Wednesday that remote learning would be required if school buildings are shuttered, though Mamdani indicated on Thursday that he was mulling a traditional snow day.
Changes to the school calendar make cancelling school difficult, if not impossible.
The city stopped having traditional snow days in 2020, deciding that schools could instead offer remote learning to help meet the mandated 180 instructional days as more holidays have been added to the calendar.
The state allows certain professional development days to count toward that number, and because of that, New York City students are only in class 176 days this year.
Mamdani emphasized the steps the city is taking to prepare for the storm.
More than 2,000 sanitation workers are going to start 12-hour shifts starting Saturday evening as the city issues a hazardous travel advisory for Sunday and Monday. He urged people to take the storm seriously and stay home.
The city’s subway and bus system is expected to be operational, said Janno Lieber, CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Chalkbeat is a nonprofit news site covering educational change in public schools. This story was originally published by Chalkbeat. Sign up for their newsletters at ckbe.at/newsletters.
Did you use this article in your work?
We’d love to hear how The 74’s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how
The full panel of judges on the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals heard arguments Tuesday in a case that could require Louisiana public schools to feature posters with the Ten Commandments in every classroom.
Attorney Liz Murrill sought a rehearing with all 17 judges from the 5th Circuit after a three-judge panel ruled in June that the 2024 state law requiring the displays was “plainly unconstitutional.” A group of parents of public school students had filed a lawsuit against the state to block the law, which includes the text of a Protestant version of the Ten Commandments, from being enforced.
The case, Roake v. Brumley, could hinge on whether the law violates the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause, which prohibits governments from endorsing a specific religion. Whether a comparable law in Texas takes effect will likely depend on the outcome of the Louisiana case.
The plaintiffs in the case are represented by the American Civil Liberties Union, Americans United for Separation of Church and State and the Freedom from Religion Foundation. Judges grilled their lawyers with questions about basing their arguments on the long-standing precedent from the case Stone v. Graham, a 1980 ruling from the U.S. Supreme Court that overturned a similar law in Kentucky. Justices decided then that the First Amendment bars public schools from posting the Ten Commandments in classrooms.
Some 5th Circuit judges said they believe the Stone decision was effectively nullified because it relied on a precedent from the 1971 case Lemon v. Kurtzman, which the Supreme Court overturned in 2022. The so-called Lemon test has been applied for five decades to decide what amounts to a violation of the Establishment Clause.
The 2022 case, Kennedy v. Bremerton, involved a Washington state high school football coach who was fired for praying at midfield after games and allowing students to join him. Joseph Kennedy got his job back after conservative justices prevailed in a 6-3 decision, saying the post game prayers do not amount to a school endorsement of Christianity.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs told the 5th Circuit judges that the Kennedy decision might have overturned Lemon but did not nullify the Stone ruling. Still, some judges questioned how an 11-inch by 14-inch poster amounts to coercion of religious beliefs.
In a news conference after the nearly two-hour hearing, Murrill expressed confidence in the state’s arguments but predicted the case is likely headed to the Supreme Court regardless of the 5th Circuit’s decision.
“We believe that you can apply this law constitutionally,” Murrill said.
Gov. Jeff Landry, who attended Tuesday’s hearing, called the Ten Commandments one of the nation’s foundational documents.
“I think Americans are just tired of the hypocrisy,” Landry said. “I just think that it’s high time that we embrace what tradition and heritage is in this country, and I agree with the attorney general. I like our chances.”
The Rev. Jeff Sims, one of the plaintiffs and a Presbyterian minister in Covington, issued a statement after the hearing saying he wants to be the one to decide on the religious education that his children receive.
“I send my children to public school to learn math, English, science, art, and so much more — but not to be evangelized by the state into its chosen religion,” Sims said. “These religious displays send a message to my children and other students that people of some religious denominations are superior to others. This is religious favoritism and it’s not only dangerous, but runs counter to my Presbyterian values of inclusion and equality.”
Louisiana Illuminator is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Louisiana Illuminator maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Greg LaRose for questions: [email protected].
Did you use this article in your work?
We’d love to hear how The 74’s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how
The Trump administration’s weeks-long immigration enforcement campaign in Minneapolis, which has shuttered schools and terrified students and parents, has left one group particularly vulnerable: children with disabilities.
Their families, who already fear their kids shutting down, running away, harming themselves or acting out when confronted under normal circumstances, have seen their anxiety skyrocket as they contemplate worst-case scenarios with federal agents.
Idil Ahmed, who lives near the epicenter of raids and protests, worries about her 6-year-old autistic daughter having a meltdown during an encounter with Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
“If they stop us, all hell will break loose with my child,” Ahmed said. “And there is no talking to these people.”
Parents tell The 74 they have no faith, after federal agents ripped a disabled, autistic woman from her car and, according to school officials, used a 5-year-old as bait this week to lure his mother from their home, that immigration officials would be patient with a child who can’t immediately respond to orders.
This is Liam Ramos. He is 5 years old.⁰ ICE snatched him and his father on the way home from school, then used him as bait to target his family.
A family who followed the rules. A child as bait. Their cruelty knows no end. pic.twitter.com/qKAwSt9axZ
“When I saw that image of this young boy with his backpack, I thought, ‘That could be my son,’” said Najma Siyad, mother of a 5-year-old with autism.
Both Ahmed and Siyad are members of Minneapolis’ Somali community, the largest in the United States and one that has been virulently targeted for removal by President Donald Trump.
They are among many Somali families whose children have autism; a neurodevelopmental condition that is prevalent in their community.
They and other Somali-Americans say their children are doubly vulnerable by virtue of their race and disability: While the first is obvious, making them a potential mark for ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the second is not.
They and other families with special needs kids have missed school, skipped doctor’s visits and, in many cases, are not getting the occupational, physical and speech therapy services that help their children manage their lives and progress academically.
Ahmed said her daughter missed three consecutive weeks of occupational therapy because her therapist was too fearful to enter their neighborhood.
“OT for us is so important,” Ahmed said. “It regulates her emotions, helps with fine motor skills, simple things like dressing, eating, body movements, the teaching of how to be physically independent.”
And while multiple districts are offering remote learning to families afraid to leave their homes, online instruction isn’t a viable option for children who need a team of skilled school staff to access their education.
“It’s not a solution for us,” said Anisa Hagi-Mohamed, founder of an autism advocacy group called Maangaar Voices.
Regression, both educationally and socially, is a constant concern, these parents say. But stronger still is their worry about their child coming face-to-face with a federal agent who doesn’t know — and perhaps doesn’t care — why they won’t interact.
A spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE and CBP, said he was working on a response as to whether agents are trained to interact with autistic children and others with disabilities. Minnesota law requires autism training for peace officers but this does not apply to ICE and CBP, Minneapolis advocates say.
Hagi-Mohamed has three kids, a 9-year-old son and two daughters, ages 5 and 8. All are “on the autism spectrum,” and each has their own unique vulnerability, she said.
Her middle child is nonverbal and frequently runs away to no particular destination.
And her son looks far older than his age. He also has difficulty responding to anyone who commands him to act.
“He would completely shut down, self harm and get hurt in the process,” Hagi-Mohamed said, imagining him in an ICE encounter. “I worry all the time.”
She’s advised him not to talk to any adults outside of school or home.
She’s frightened, too, for her 5-year-old, who treats all grownups with the same deference as her parents.
“The stranger danger thing is not so strong in her,” Hagi-Mohamed said. “She is one of those kids who if you tell her to do something, she will do it.”
Maren Christenson, executive director of the Multicultural Autism Action Network, said she lives so close to where Good was shot that she’s worried tear gas will seep through the family’s windows from the ongoing protests.
Maren Christenson and her son, Simon Hofer (Maren Christenson)
Christenson’s 14-year-old son, Simon Hofer, has autism and she can’t predict how he would respond to an ICE agent.
The boy said he’s worried — not so much for himself, but for his friends.
“I have been feeling angry, scared, sad,” he told The 74 on Thursday. “It feels kind of hopeless sometimes and overwhelming. Friends of mine and classmates are afraid to go to school and so they attend online.”
His mother has told the special education community that even if someone is Caucasian, is a citizen, has a disability and can articulate their challenges, they are not free from peril.
Her advice? “Comply: do what they tell you to stay safe.”
But she’s unsure whether that strategy would work for people with autism who can become unmoored by such an encounter. Stress might hamper their ability to communicate, she said.
“We have held a number of community conversations and brainstormed, asking, ‘What could we do? What are people doing?’” she said. “But the truth of the matter is we are in uncharted territory. There is no guidebook, no best practices for when your city is under siege.”
A mother of two boys with autism who lives in the southern suburbs of Minneapolis and who asked not to be named to protect her family’s safety, said her children, ages 8 and 5, are just now learning about the concept of police.
They cannot at all understand the complexity of immigration enforcement — or the harsh tactics that have come with it — so she’s keeping them mostly at home.
“There is only so much I can do when I am not with them,” she said.
Hodan, the mother of an 18-year-old college student who has autism, said her son has always had high anxiety. But now, she said, it’s worse. She’s given him a list of a dozen phone numbers to call in an emergency that he keeps in his jeans and in his shoes.
“He has his citizenship card in his pocket and when we drive, I make him put it on the center console,” said his mom, who asked that her last name not to be used to protect her family.
Along with school and therapy sessions, also gone from families’ routines are winter afternoons at indoor play spaces, trips to the gym for their teenagers and other child-friendly destinations.
Siyad, a mother of three who lives 18 miles south of Minneapolis, close to St. Paul, said they recently took the 26-minute drive to the Minnesota Children’s Museum and had to turn around when they were three minutes away after witnessing an ICE encounter on the road.
“That fear is daily,” she said. “I am a naturalized citizen but I was not carrying my passport at the time. We had to turn around immediately.”
The painful irony, she said, is that her children, like all of the others in this story, their parents said, are U.S. citizens.
“Our kids are as American as apple pie,” she said. “This is their home.”
Did you use this article in your work?
We’d love to hear how The 74’s reporting is helping educators, researchers, and policymakers. Tell us how
Among the first officers to respond to what would become one of the deadliest school shootings in U.S. history was former campus cop Adrian Gonzalez. On Wednesday, after an emotional three-week trial, a jury found Gonzalez not guilty of failing to save lives during the shooting. Prosecutors had alleged the 52-year-old endangered children’s lives and abandoned his training when he failed to stop the 18-year-old gunman before entering Robb Elementary School and opening fire.
Getty Images
Big picture: It’s the second time ever that a school-based officer has faced criminal charges for their failure to protect and serve as shots rang out inside a school. It’s also the second time the officer has walked free.
In 2023, former school-based police officer Scot Peterson was acquitted of similar charges after he took cover outside a Parkland, Florida, high school as a gunman killed 17 people in a 2018 mass shooting.
Three for three? Gonzalez’s acquittal doesn’t mark the end of the criminal fallout from what the Justice Department determined were “cascading” police failures in Uvalde. Pete Arredondo, the school district’s former police chief, will stand trial on 10 child endangerment charges. A trial date for that case hasn’t yet been set.
In the news
Updates to Trump’s immigration crackdown:
As thousands of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents descend on Minnesota, school communities have been pushed into chaos and fear, my Twin Cities-based colleague Beth Hawkins reports. | The 74
The Columbia Heights school district announced that federal agents have detained four of its students over the last two weeks — including a 5-year-old boy who was used as “bait” as officers pursued his family members. The Department of Homeland Security said the elementary schooler had been “abandoned” by his father during a traffic stop. | MPR News, X
The former Des Moines, Iowa, superintendent, who was arrested by federal immigration agents in September, has pleaded guilty to felony charges connected to lying about his citizenship status on school district employment forms and for possessing a gun while in the country illegally. | The New York Times
Maine parents have stopped sending their kids to school as the state becomes the next immigration enforcement battleground. | Maine Morning Star
Immigrant-rights advocates have called for a Texas judge to recuse herself from a case involving an unaccompanied minor, alleging she demonstrated cruelty and bias including grilling immigrant children about whether they had “abandoned” their families in their birth countries. | El Paso Matters
Worms and mold in the food: As the Trump administration restores the practice of family detentions, children in ICE custody are being exposed to unsanitary conditions and limited access to clean drinking water. | PBS
Sign-up for the School (in)Security newsletter.
Get the most critical news and information about students’ rights, safety and well-being delivered straight to your inbox.
As Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta prepares for a trial over allegations it failed to protect children from sexual exploitation, the company has asked a judge to exclude from court proceedings references to research into social media’s effects on youth mental health.| WIRED
Employees of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency inappropriately handled sensitive Social Security data, the Justice Department acknowledged in a court filing. The president of the American Federation of Teachers, which sued to halt DOGE’s access to such confidential information, said the revelation “confirms our worst fears” that the quasi-agency’s data practices jeopardized “American’s personal and financial security.” | CNN
Poor reception: Turns out, kids aren’t so hip to the idea of school cell phone bans. Fifty-one percent of teens said students should be allowed to use their devices during class. A resounding 73% oppose cell phone bans throughout the entire school day. | Pew Research Center
School districts across Michigan have rejected new school safety and mental health money from the state over objections to a new requirement that they waive legal privilege and submit to state investigations after mass school shootings. Some school leaders have argued the requirement creates legal uncertainties that outweigh the financial support. | Chalkbeat
As the Prince George’s County, Maryland, school district faces a “crisis budget” and braces for $150 million in cuts, officials plan to spend $6 million on artificial intelligence-enabled security technology, including weapons detection systems and license plate readers. | WUSA
