School Nursing

The Relentless School Nurse: Anti-Immigrant Messages Are Breaking Our Children

Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN

What Children Absorb Doesn’t Stay Abstract

Children do not arrive at school untouched by the world around them. They absorb messages, about who belongs, who is suspect, and who is safe, at home, online, in the car, and in the news. Those messages don’t stay abstract or harmless. They show up as words in classrooms, cafeterias, buses, playgrounds, and hallways, shaping how children talk to one another, how safe they feel, and whether they trust adults to step in when something goes wrong. 

Right now, many children are absorbing messages about immigration, deportation, and belonging, and repeating them in their own words, sometimes quietly, sometimes loudly, sometimes as threats. Language meant for adult conversations is showing up in children’s interactions at school, often without adults recognizing how much harm it can cause.

When Fear Becomes Personal

In early 2025, an eleven-year-old girl in Texas died by suicide after classmates allegedly bullied her with threats and rumors involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to her family, she was told her parents would be taken away, that she would be left alone, that she was not safe. The fear did not stay outside the building. It followed her through the school day.

This was not political debate or disagreement. It was fear delivered child to child, in a place that should have felt protective.

Her family had raised concerns before her death—concerns rooted not in discipline, but in safety, and in emotional safety that had eroded over time.

This Is Not an Isolated Moment

A video that circulated widely shows a young boy sobbing after being bullied at a youth soccer game. In the video, he tells his parents that other children yelled racist, anti-immigrant slurs at him and told him to “go back to your country.”

The clip is painful not because it is shocking, but because it is familiar. You can hear the confusion in his voice, see the fear in his posture, and recognize the moment when a child begins to wonder whether there is anywhere he truly belongs.

These are not isolated incidents. They are connected by the same thread: children absorbing adult rhetoric, cultural hostility, and disinformation, then carrying it directly into spaces that should feel safe. When we pretend otherwise, we fail them.

This Is a Public Health Issue

Children are hearing that some families are disposable, some classmates are suspect, and belonging can be revoked. These messages do not land as abstract ideas. They settle into developing nervous systems. Fear becomes chronic stress. Stress interferes with learning, sleep, behavior, and mental health.

From a public-health perspective, this matters deeply.
This is not ideology. It is biology.

Threatening a child with deportation—even falsely, even as a so-called joke—is not teasing. It is psychological harm. It invokes separation, loss, and abandonment—concepts no child is equipped to carry alone. When adults dismiss this as “kids repeating things they hear,” we miss the point—and the harm—entirely.

Children repeat what we normalize.
Silence from adults is not neutrality; it is permission.

What This Can Look Like in Schools

I want to be clear: I am not offering a checklist or a comprehensive solution. I am sharing a few examples of how some schools are beginning to respond, recognizing that every community is different and that even small steps can matter.

Some schools are starting by naming the harm out loud—agreeing that language meant to scare or threaten someone based on who they are or where their family comes from is not acceptable at school. When adults name this plainly and consistently, it signals to students that fear will not be brushed aside or minimized.

Others are focusing on what adults do in the moment. Instead of waiting for formal complaints, staff interrupt harmful language when they hear it and follow up with the student who was targeted. This isn’t about having the right script. It’s about letting students know someone noticed and cared enough to step in.

Some schools are paying closer attention to how safety feels, not just how it is defined on paper—checking in with students who seem anxious, making trusted adults visible and approachable, and reinforcing where students can go if something doesn’t feel right. Feeling seen can be protective.

In other places, schools are reinforcing belonging and care through everyday learning, often in health or social-emotional lessons. These are not lessons about immigration policy or legal status. They are conversations about kindness, empathy, community, and how words affect others—topics that support student well-being across the board.

None of these approaches are sweeping fixes. They are adult choices to notice, to respond, and to build from there.

Schools don’t need to have all the answers before they act. They need adults who are willing to pay attention to what children are hearing, to interrupt harm when it shows up, and to make care visible. Even small, consistent actions can change what students learn is acceptable in the spaces meant to keep them safe.

If You Want to Learn More

Because bullying prevention is not my area of expertise, I’m sharing a small number of articles that helped inform my thinking. These are offered simply as places to start.

On bullying, belonging, and school climate

On immigration-related fear and bullying in schools

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Published by Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN

Robin Cogan, MEd, RN, NCSN, FNASN, FAAN is a Nationally Certified School Nurse, in her 24th year as a New Jersey school nurse in the Camden City School District. Robin is the New Jersey Director for the National Association of School Nurses. She is proud to be a Johnson & Johnson School Health Leadership Fellow and past program mentor. Robin has been honored by multiple awards for her work in school nursing and population health. She serves as faculty in the School Nurse Certificate Program at Rutgers University-Camden School of Nursing. Robin writes The Relentless School Nurse, a popular blog. Her extensive work in school nursing was included as a case study in the National Academies of Medicine Future of Nursing 2030 report. You can follow Robin on Twitter at @RobinCogan.

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