Trump 2.0: What to Expect and How You Can Help Students and Educators

“The day of the election, I found myself feeling super mad and feeling a really strong energy to do something,” says a Washington college student, who asked to remain anonymous because she has experienced online attacks in the past. 

She echoed the feelings of many Aspiring Educators. 

“Shortly after Trump was elected, many of our members across the country had concerns about what this meant for the next four years,” says NEA Vice President Princess Moss. “Our Aspiring Educators were especially asking questions around what this meant for them as they enter the classroom in the next several years.”   

Now, only three months into Trump’s second term, these fears for the future have turned into reality as his administration aggressively pursues anti-immigrant and anti-LGBTQ+ school policies that will hurt students and educators.  

Today, members of NEA Aspiring Educators (AE) are educating fellow members about the harmful impact of these policies and mobilizing their peers across the country to take action and speak out for students, educators, and public schools.  

Want to join their efforts and find out how you can help in the future, when you have your own classroom? Here’s what you need to know about the Trump administration’s actions and how they will impact public schools.  

Trump is Weaponizing Immigration 

One of the most charged and divisive issues in recent years has been immigration, according to Rocío Inclán, senior director of NEA’s Center for Racial and Social Justice. “The Trump administration has weaponized the topic to galvanize its base, using fear and misinformation to stoke division,” Inclán says. But understanding the how and why behind these tactics is crucial for educators and others who seek to counter them.   

The first step, Inclán explains, is to understand how anti-public education lawmakers have gained power to use against undocumented immigrants. Their tactics include eroding public trust, reducing civic participation, consolidating power, and sowing division.     

The beneficiaries of this anti-immigration agenda, Inclán clarifies, are extremists and billionaires. 

“[Conservatives] have been beating this drum continuously [in] every place,” Inclán says, adding that those who support immigrant rights and democracy need to be just as consistent in pushing back.” 

Civil Rights are Under Attack

Lubna Alam, with NEA's Office of General Counsel, lays out the executive orders she expects to see or has already seen from the Trump administration related to immigration:

What You Can Do About It

“This administration is quick to erase the experiences, contributions, and celebrations of individuals who are Black, brown, Indigenous, LGBTQIA+, immigrant, women, and more,” says AE Chairperson President Hannah StClair. “They will continue to do so. As an Aspiring Educator, you do not have to obey this erasure.”

She adds: “You will have students in your classroom that do not look like you or have the same life experience as you. Affirm their life experiences. Make sure they are reflected in your materials. In your [college] courses, ask questions, talk to your classmates and professors about how to ensure you're committed to providing your students with a safe space.” 

Want to show support for your students right now? Attend AE chapter events on your campus; connect with local organizations, such as the American Civil Liberties Unions and United We Dream, that help the students in your community; and organize a letter-writing event where AE members and allies write to their elected officials and tell them to vote against Trump administration’s policies that endanger public school educators and students. 

Work with your NEA state affiliate to meet with, call, or email elected officials, and use the talking points below to speak up for public education.

Key Resources to Keep Immigrant Students Safe

To counter Trump’s executive order on safe zones, Alam recommends school districts put a safe zone resolution in place for what to do if the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency comes into the building to engage in immigration enforcement.   

“It reaffirms that the school district is a welcoming place for all students [and] prohibits the collection of student immigration information,” Alam says. “Countless school districts around the country have already passed these resolutions.”  

While policies like these can be effective, it does not provide immunity if you decline to obey law enforcement directives.  

If you are student teacher or will soon start your first job, find out if your district has a safe zone resolution. Click here to learn more and find sample language to share with your colleagues and administrators. 

If your district does not have a safe zone resolution in place and ICE comes to your school, direct the immigration officials to the superintendent.  

For undocumented students or students in mixed-status families, says Jennifer Berkshire, co-host of the Have You Heard podcast and teacher at the Boston College Prison Education Program, the key is to have connections within immigrant groups in your community. These groups are already looking ahead and thinking about how this new administration is going to impact immigrants’ safety.  

“[Aspiring Educators] are entering into a complex world that just got a whole lot more complex. We're divided, we're polarized, and that makes being part of an institution, that—by definition—brings together all different kinds of people, that much harder,” Berkshire says.

Key Resources to Keep LGBTQ+ Students and Educators Safe 

Anthony Brisson of NEA’s Human and Civil Rights Department suggests reaching out to your local or state NEA affiliate and getting involved with community organizing. By finding the intersection of issues that impact all marginalized groups and coming together, you can increase the number of voices being shared and heard.

 “First and foremost, being a member of NEA [means], we will always fight for safe, just, and equitable schools, and advocate for inclusive policy at the legislative and policy levels,” Brisson says.  

One way Aspiring Educators can defend the LGBTQ+ community is by educating yourself on the issues LGBTQ+ people face every day.

An Aspiring Educator’s Hope for the Future  

The next generation of educators have the responsibility to not only teach all students, but also to influence how they view themselves and the rest of the world.

“As an aspiring educator, I have a lot of concerns about Trump’s second administration,” says Adriana Perez, a third-year, middle-level education major at South Carolina State University and president of The Student South Carolina Education Association.   

Perez, who is Puerto Rican, shares that when she spoke Spanish as a child, she felt “othered” by strangers—meaning she was treated as if she was different from everyone else. 

“I want to become an ESL teacher to help those students and families who cannot express themselves and those who get looked at wrongfully for being from a different ethnic group or nationality,” she says. 

With President Donald Trump’s efforts to end protections for marginalized students, Perez’s dream is at risk.  

While she has many fears for her future students, Perez says she hopes that “positivity comes sooner rather than later.” To her AE colleagues, she says, “You are not alone.”   

StClair stresses that AE members’ experiences and voices are needed right now.   

“The number one action that legislators shared with me while lobbying in Washington, D.C., is that they need to hear from their constituents about the impacts of policies,” she explains. “Legislators work for you, and their job is to share the experiences of those they represent.”