In Minnesota, sending a child to school is an act of faith for immigrant families

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — In some ways, 10-year-old Giancarlo is one of the lucky ones. He still goes to school.

Each morning, he and his family bundle up and leave their Minneapolis apartment to wait for his bus. His little brother hefts on his backpack, even though he stopped going to day care weeks ago because his mom is too afraid to take him.

As they wait behind a wrought-iron fence, Giancarlo’s mother pulls the boys into the shadow of a tree to pray. It’s the only time she stops scanning the street for immigration agents.

“God, please protect my son when he’s not at home,” she says in Spanish. She spoke with The Associated Press on condition of partial anonymity for the family, because she fears being targeted by immigration authorities.

For many immigrant families in Minnesota, sending a child to school requires faith that federal immigration officers deployed around the state won’t detain them. Thousands of children are staying home, often for lack of door-to-door transportation — or simply trust.

The fear has turned into reality. Many parents and some children have been detained, including 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who with his father, originally from Ecuador, was taken into custody in the Minneapolis suburb of Columbia Heights as he was arriving home from school. They were sent to a detention facility in Texas but returned after a judge ordered their release.

Schools, parents and community groups have mobilized to help students get to class so they can learn, socialize and have steady access to meals. And for those who are still sending their children, the trip to and from school is one of the only risks they are willing to take.

“I don’t feel safe with him going to school,” Giancarlo’s mother said, shaking her head. “But every day he wakes up and wants to go. He wants to be with his friends.”

Giancarlo’s Minneapolis elementary school is the best thing going for him these days. There’s soccer to play at recess. The recorder to learn. Giancarlo has set his eyes on learning the flute next year when fifth graders choose an instrument. He has “demasiado” — “too many” — best friends to name.

But his mother and brother’s home confinement weighs on him. He saves half the food he gets at school breakfast and lunch to share with them, and he's lost four pounds this year. He takes extra care to bring pizza or hamburgers, treats the family used to eat in restaurants when his mom, an asylum-seeker from Latin America, was still working and they felt safe leaving the house. Giancarlo has also applied for asylum and his brother, Yair, has U.S. citizenship.

Sometimes only seven of Giancarlo's classmates show up when there should be close to 30. “The teachers cry,” he said. “It’s sad.”

With as many as 3,000 federal officers roaming the state this year, some immigrant parents have made a bet that their children are safer riding or walking with white Minnesotans who were strangers just weeks ago — rather than in their own cars or while holding their hands.

One mother, an immigrant from Mexico, has given up her housecleaning job, and her husband stopped going to his construction job to minimize their chances of being detained. Her 10-year-old, U.S.-born daughter is the only one leaving the house, getting a ride with another student's parents to her private Christian school in Minneapolis.

“It raises my blood pressure,” the mother said. She spoke on condition of anonymity out of fear of being targeted by immigration authorities.

Under longstanding guidance that was thrown out by the Trump administration, schools and other “sensitive places” such as hospitals and churches previously were considered off-limits for Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents and other immigration officials. Children, no matter their immigration status, have a constitutional right to attend public school.

This winter, school absenteeism and the demand for online learning have surged as immigration officers showed up in school parking lots.

In St. Paul, over 9,000 students were absent on Jan. 14, more than a quarter of the 33,000-student district, according to data obtained by the AP. In Fridley, a Minneapolis suburb, school attendance has dropped by nearly a third, according to a lawsuit the district filed this week trying to block immigration enforcement operations near schools.

Kids sent letters to St. Paul Superintendent Stacie Stanley begging her to offer online learning. During an interview, her voice shook as she read a letter from an elementary school student: “I don’t feel safe coming to school because of ICE.”

When the district introduced a temporary virtual learning option, over 3,500 students enrolled in the first 90 minutes. That number has since risen to more than 7,500 students.

After school on Wednesday, around 20 teachers and a retired principal packed into the front office at Valley View Elementary School — where Liam Conejo Ramos attends prekindergarten — for a briefing before walking home children who live nearby. School officials say several other students and over two dozen parents have been detained.

“We live in a place where ICE is everywhere,” said Rene Argueta, the school’s family liaison. Argueta, himself an immigrant from El Salvador, organized the teachers walking and driving students to and from their homes.

The day before, the group had run into federal officers in the neighborhood at dismissal time. Argueta felt it necessary to calm some of the teachers upset by the encounter.

“Your only goal is to bring the students home, no matter what you see,” he told the group. “We don’t approach ICE. We don’t take out our phones.”

After distributing walkie-talkies, Argueta and two other teachers met a group of 12 kids waiting for them in the hallway. Argueta took the hand of the youngest child, a boy in prekindergarten, and led the group outside.

Toward the back of the line, second grade teacher Jenna Scott chatted with a former student, now a third grader. She tried to keep the conversation light.

“I’m so excited to see your house,” Scott told her.

“Have you signed up for parent-teacher conference?”

“No, miss. ICE,” the girl said.

“I know. Tell your parents you can do it online this time.”

The third grader then ran to her home. Afterward, Scott said the 10-minute walk is a delicate dance. “You don’t want to scare the kids, but you also want them to walk quickly.”

The day before, Argueta said, they were walking the students home when they heard cars honking to warn that immigration agents were nearby. One little girl who was walking ahead started to panic and ran back toward Argueta.

“ICE viene,” or “ICE is coming,” she yelled.

He took her hand and kept walking. She asked if he was afraid.

No, he said.

She asked if he had papers, if he was in the country legally. Argueta has a green card and permission to work, but he lied. He told her he didn’t, so she wouldn’t feel alone.

Her hand relaxed in his. She smiled again.

He held her hand until they got to her doorstep and she went inside with her mother.

Associated Press data journalist Sharon Lurye in Philadelphia contributed to this report.

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Yair, 3, sits for a portrait with his mom at home Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Signs reading "NO ICE ACCESS" taped to the front doors of Valley View Elementary School, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Giancarlo, 10, is escorted by his mom to the curb for bus pickup Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Yair, 3, left, and Giancarlo, 10, get ready with the help of their mom Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Valley View Elementary School principal Jason Kuhlman delivers food donations to families from the school Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Valley View Elementary School principal Jason Kuhlman delivers food donations to families from the school Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Food donations fill the inside entrance of Valley View Elementary School, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Valley View Elementary School principal Jason Kuhlman, right, helps organize and pack food donations for delivery Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Columbia Heights, Minn. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Yair, 3, right, waits for his mom to prepare breakfast while his brother Giancarlo, 10, washes his hands Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

Giancarlo, 10, left, and Yair, 3, pray with their mom, right, before Giancarlo is picked up for school Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Liam James Doyle)

LONDON (AP) — Enzo Fernandez's agent called Chelsea's decision to drop the midfielder “completely unfair” on Friday.

Fernandez was banished from the next two games — the FA Cup quarterfinal against Port Vale on Saturday and the Premier League match with Manchester City next weekend — Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior confirmed on Friday.

The sanction was in response to Fernandez telling a podcast this week that he would like to live in Madrid. There's speculation linking him with a move to Real Madrid even though he's contracted to Chelsea to 2031.

Fernandez's agent Javier Pastore said the Argentina international does not understand the decision.

“The punishment is completely unfair,” Pastore told The Athletic. "Banning the player for two matches, which moreover are also absolutely crucial for Chelsea because qualification for the Champions League is at stake and he is one of the team's most important players.

"There's no real reason or justification for why he has been banned. Enzo didn't understand the situation. When the coach told him he accepted it because he's a highly professional guy who's always fully committed wherever he is and respects decisions, but we don’t understand the punishment because he doesn't mention any club or say he wants to leave Chelsea, far from it. He only mentions Madrid, the city.

“Our plan after the World Cup is to meet with Chelsea again and, if there is no agreement, to explore other options.”

Rosenior said he was part of the club's decision.

“It’s disappointing for Enzo to speak that way. I’ve got no bad words to say about him but a line was crossed in terms of our culture and what we want to build,” Rosenior said.

“Enzo, firstly, as a character, a person and a player, I have the utmost respect. He’s frustrated because he wants us to be successful. The door is not closed on Enzo. It’s a sanction. You have to protect the culture, and in terms of that, a line was crossed.”

Fernandez joined Chelsea for a then-British record 107 million pounds ($142 million) in 2023 and was appointed vice-captain the following year.

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FILE - Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez holds the ball during the English League Cup semifinal second leg soccer match between Arsenal and Chelsea in London, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Ian Walton)

Argentina's Enzo Fernandez celebrates scoring his side's opening goal against Mauritania during a friendly match in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, March 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Gustavo Garello)