Advocates Seek to End Schools’ Immigrant Language Access Gap

In the United States, the lack of interpreters, bilingual teachers, and English Language Learner (ELL) programs leaves many immigrant children without the linguistic support they need to learn, a problem only exacerbated by recent cuts to US Department of Education by the administration of President Donald Trump.

The absence of interpreters and translators directly affects the relationship between immigrant families and schools. Parents who do not speak English face barriers when enrolling their children, attending school meetings, and reviewing disciplinary processes. In the classroom, students without linguistic support are excluded from curricular content, impacting both academic performance and emotional wellbeing.

An audit released in September 2025 by New York City Comptroller Brad Lander found that some ELL students in the city “did not receive or were delayed in receiving services to which they were entitled to, and, ultimately, did not have equal access to school programs and services.”

Students without linguistic support are excluded from curricular content, impacting both academic performance and emotional wellbeing.

New York City is hardly the only school system that struggles to meet student language access needs. Indeed, with federal anti-immigrant campaigns a centerpiece of the Trump administration, the political space to pursue policy changes more locally has been limited.

Tracing the Struggle for Language Access in New York City

There are about 815,000 students enrolled in New York City Public Schools, making the district easily the largest public school system in the country, followed by Los Angeles Unified School District (at 419,929 students) and Miami-Dade County Public Schools (at 335,500 students).

It is also a school system with one of the highest concentrations of students who speak a first language other than English. Immigration is one driver of this. Between 2022 and 2023 alone, more than 13,000 newly arrived immigrant students entered New York City’s public school system. Most were identified as ELL students, bringing the total number to over 134,000—17 percent of the district’s entire student population. Yet institutional resources did not expand proportionally.

From the perspective of many community organizations—such as Masa (formerly the Mexican American Students’ Alliance), the New York Immigration Coalition, and the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families—the shortage of certified teachers in bilingual and ELL programs cannot be understood as a mere technical gap. It is a direct expression of current policy, which sadly allows school systems to get away with failing to provide children and youth with adequate learning conditions.

Hearings before the New York City Council’s Committee on Education in March 2025 revealed a growing concern over school attendance rates of newly arrived immigrant children.

While exact figures are not yet available, council members and city Department of Education officials acknowledged in the hearings that more than 1,000 immigrant students may have dropped out or disengaged from school in the fall of 2024. The hearing highlighted how fear of deportation, unstable housing, and lack of language access will further contribute to chronic absenteeism and educational exclusion, particularly after Trump’s election.

Councilmember Shahana Hanif emphasized: “I fear that right now with, of course, Trump’s mass deportation agenda, you know, I have constituents who share that they’re afraid to send their kids to school, and I know our school community is one of the safest communities for families.”

A Broader National Struggle

Adriana Cadena, executive director of the Protecting Immigrant Families Coalition, explained to NPQ that the challenge in meeting immigrant students’ needs extends far beyond New York City.

“The lack of institutional resources is part of a broader, systematic effort by the Trump administration and its allies in Congress to deny immigrant families the basics every family needs to thrive. Yes, education, but also healthcare, food, and a safe place to live,” Cadena pointed out. “And not just people who are undocumented—about half of the people in immigrant families are US citizens, so attacks on immigrant families are attacks on millions of US citizens.”

Regardless of rising enrollment of multilingual students, many districts nationwide lack the certified staff, sustained funding, and inclusive policies needed to meet immigrant students’ needs. The educational gap is not simply a matter of logistics—it reflects a broader political refusal to invest in immigrants as part of the public.

School systems in Texas and California—two states with large immigrant populations—exemplify these structural challenges in ensuring linguistic access.

In Texas, more than 1.1 million ELL students were enrolled in the 2022–2023 academic year, representing nearly 20 percent of the state’s total student body. A 2023 Texas Education Agency report stated: “The number of students receiving language services increased across all regions of the state, with a particular concentration in border districts.” Despite Texas’s long-standing bilingual education tradition, certified-teacher shortages and regional disparities in service quality persist.

In California, over 1 million students were classified as ELLs during the same period, accounting for 18 percent of all public school students in the state. According to the Learning Policy Institute (LPI), nearly 40 percent of K–12 students come from households where a language other than English is spoken, and many remain in ELL programs for years without achieving expected proficiency. This category of “long-term English learners” poses a structural challenge for the state education system. The statewide teacher shortage tends to disproportionately affect schools with the highest number of ELL students, according to LPI.

Xilonin Cruz-Gonzalez is deputy director of Californians Together, a statewide coalition that advocates for equitable educational policies for English learners in California. From her perspective, the shortage of qualified teachers for English learners is deeply tied to systemic underinvestment in teacher preparation—both at the state and federal levels.

“The federal government—under the current presidential administration—is actively attempting to eliminate Title III funding, which provides direct support to school districts serving English learners and immigrant students,” Cruz-Gonzalez told NPQ. “These federal dollars are essential for districts to meet their legal obligations and provide adequate services to newcomer populations. Without this funding, it will be extremely difficult for schools to maintain the level of support required under federal law.”

Growing Multilingualism Despite Declining Resources

The national trends are telling. Students are increasingly multilingual, but educational systems are not adapting at the speed or depth required. Moreover, public education budgets continue to face pressure from reallocations toward infrastructure and school safety.

“When English learners receive the supports that they need in the proper time…then they can often go on to outperform their general education peers.”

Meanwhile, advocacy organizations are calling for structural reform that recognizes multilingualism as a pillar of inclusion rather than a barrier. This perspective is explicitly supported by UnidosUS and United We Dream. Both organizations emphasize the strategic and identity-affirming role of multilingual education.

UnidosUS, in its report From Practice to Policy: English Learners and Multilingual Learners in California, outlines concrete reforms, including expanded Title III funding, investment in culturally and linguistically responsive curricula, educator training that builds on students’ home languages, and family engagement through translated communications.

Lina Lenis, a policy analyst at UnidosUS whose focus is K–12 education, emphasized to NPQ the critical role that federal funding plays in supporting ELL students. As Lenis pointed out, “When English learners receive the supports that they need in the proper time…then they can often go on to outperform their general education peers.”

Lenis pointed out that beyond funding, schools have concrete tools that can enhance ELL students’ education. These include ensuring that caregivers meaningfully participate in parent-teacher conferences, receive clear information about special education or gifted and talented services, and access communication channels that respect their linguistic needs.

Engaging families, she added, especially those with limited English proficiency, strengthens academic achievement and overall student wellbeing.

Similarly, United We Dream, through its Education Justice program, has published reports that affirm the value of multilingual access to school services. The organization also promotes learning environments where students’ home languages are not only respected but actively integrated into instruction.

Strategies to Counter Fear

The current language access gap is emblematic of a broader climate of fear. In recent months, schools in New York and other major cities have begun preparing for potential immigration enforcement by implementing Know Your Rights training, drafting emergency protocols, and coordinating with legal aid organizations.

These efforts, while necessary, underscore a troubling reality: Instead of focusing on instruction and inclusion, schools are being forced to anticipate federal actions that directly impact their students’ sense of safety and belonging. The classroom, far from being a neutral space, becomes a frontline where immigration policy is felt daily.

For Cruz-Gonzalez, it’s essential that school districts create positive environments where families can feel safe. She pointed to concrete examples of how school communities work toward that goal. “LA Unified, at the beginning of the school year, they were using their staff to make sure that families had safe passage to school,” she said. “There are safe routes for families to go from their houses to schools. So, those are some of the things that schools can do to actively ensure that families feel comfortable.”