ICE agents, known as Immigration and Customs Enforcement, are detaining immigrants and sending them back to their homeland. Invasions from ICE are continually striking fear into field workers, causing hardworking families to hide. Not only is this affecting field workers, but businesses and even schools.
Last month 25-year-old Alfredo Juarez Zeferino, like any other hard-working field worker, many with families and kids, was driving his wife to her job in Mount Vernon, Washington. Shortly after, they were both stopped. Zeferino, known as Lelo, was then seized by ICE, and taken into custody. “Lelo” is now being held in a detention center in Tacoma, Washington.

“I’ve seen a lot of migrants and immigrant people that are scared to speak up because of the consequences,” says ELL Bilingual Teacher Katherine Playford.

Playford, who works with Migrant students daily, sees first-hand the effects ICE has in communities, along with the threats that mass deportation have on kids and their families.

“Yes, I’m definitely against mass deportation for several reasons: one is because our government has created an economy that’s dependent on immigrant labor, and if we are to deport all of them, our economy will collapse,” said Playford. “Since we created the situation where we have allowed people to enter the country and they don’t get paid very much, we’re now taking those people who have helped us as American citizens economically and we are basically punishing them for doing good for our country.”
Playford is passionate about pushing her students to strive for success and to build an achievable dream and continues to give them hope as they all have chances of achieving great things in their lives.

But Playford, who has been a part of Sedro-Woolley High School for over 12 years, says she has seen the fire in her students slowly burn out.

“I feel like I’m in a position where I’m just, like, begging people to just graduate high school and that’s it. They’re not going past that. So, I feel like one thing that’s happened is that all the anti-immigrant stuff and all the racism in this country that’s kind of been on the rise for the last 10 years, I think it has made immigrants feel like, ‘oh, a college program, that’s not for me, or, becoming a nurse or an engineer or a doctor, that’s for them and not for me.’ I felt like before, they felt there was a chance for them.”

The fear of migrant field workers, students, employees, and many others only continues to grow. Rumors have soared through Skagit County that ICE is on school grounds.

“We are aware of messages circulating on social media claiming that ICE has been seen at the high school,” the Mount Vernon School District said in a March 28 Facebook post that ran on Skagit Breaking. “At this time, these reports are not accurate, there is no ICE presence on any of our school campuses.”
Problems continue to happen all over the United States, even in the smallest towns like Sedro-Woolley. Protests continue throughout the United States as well, to advocate for the rights that we have. ICE raids, along with deportations are a problem that many will fight against until change happens.

As it continues to impact students, more and more people are vocalizing their opinions on mass deportations and the effects ICE has on their community, peers, and loved ones.

“Coming as a Latina myself, and having migrant parents, it is heart-wrenching,” says Vice President Alexia Ceja at Sedro-Woolley High School. “It’s sad seeing all these families being ripped apart for no apparent reason, and it has been stated that they don’t even know, you know, why they’re doing it, just because how we look.”

The fear of migrant field workers, students, employees, and many others only continues to grow.