Under the looming threat of Immigration and Customs enforcement, families organize to drive students to school if their parents don’t feel safe. Along Buford Highway, children shop while FaceTiming their parents, who are afraid to go out. Miles away, two ICE detention centers are planned – more centers like those that scholars from Boston University and Harvard, as well as locals, call concentration camps.

David Jones* is undocumented and has lived in America for about 25 years with two children and a grandson. He explained the growing fear in his community, translated from Spanish.

“There are more camps and arrests,” Jones said. “There’s more fear. We try not to go out, but you have to work, you have to buy food, necessary things. Obviously, if you don’t have someone to help you, then it’s more difficult.”

More than 30,000 absences were reported in Charlotte, North Carolina after ICE deployed there. Midtown cluster parent and “crimmigration” lawyer Jessica Stern** described the efforts of her and about 30 other parents to prevent a similar situation in Atlanta by creating a transportation network that she hopes to expand to other districts.

“This has been talked about before as the Magic School Bus in other cities,” Stern said. “Neighbors have gotten together to make sure if there is a confirmed threat of ICE, that there are parents ready to act so they can band together and help get the kids to and from school safely, either taking them directly or kind of surrounding the parents who have fear of being detained going to or from school, to make sure they don’t have to keep their kids away from learning and feeling safe at school.”

One of 23 planned ICE warehouse jails and detention centers is an 8,500-bed center in the small town of Social Circle, Georgia. 53 people have died in ICE or Customs and Border Protection custody under United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem, mostly due to poor conditions and medical care. Social Circle officials are skeptical about its capacity to provide care.

Midtown parent Mary Smith* said her family has been impacted by ICE, too.

“I have an uncle who was facing deportation, and before his case was delayed through the court system, he stopped going out in public, even to stores, because he was afraid,” Smith said. “Seeing that made the fear feel very real and close to home.”

Jane Miller* was protected from deportation under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy from age 15 until 2022, when her status was placed on hold for no clear reason. She described the process as scary and explained why DACA recipients are often called Dreamers.

“Being a Dreamer, to me, means we were brought here to America as babies for a better future,” Miller said. “Our parents dreamed of the American dream, and they wanted us to live and thrive and get the opportunities they never had, like basic opportunities of going school, finding a job, a good-paying wage.”

Jones said he is in America for his family.

“It’s really for my children and grandson,” Jones* said. “I’m here illegally, and God forbid, but given how things are, there’s an 80 or 90% chance they might catch me or something like that.”

ICE-FREE: A sign in Plaza Fiesta, an indoor Latin mall on Buford Highway. On Jan. 31, protesters visited the mall in a demonstration against ICE. (Ava Mitchell)

A Supreme Court ruling in September 2025 allows ICE to profile Americans based on whether they look like immigrants. Miller explained the fear this causes.

“Even my own father, who has a work permit, is scared because, unfortunately, they don’t really care about the immigration status,” Miller* said. “It’s more about how we look and how they’re racially profiling. It looks and feels scary because it’s now, unfortunately, our day-to-day life, being worried if ICE is gonna be coming down the street by your house or knocking at your door.”

In January, an Indian-American woman alleged that her elderly mother was harassed because of her accent. Agents assumed she spoke Spanish and only stopped after she showed a photo of her passport. Smith said she and her family carry their passports everywhere.

“I started carrying my passport after seeing a video on social media of a Black family whose vehicle was attacked,” Smith* said. “It made me realize that if something like that can happen to them, it can happen to anyone.”

AP Human Geography teacher Christopher Wharton explained that ethnic enclaves like the Buford Highway corridor may be especially vulnerable to ICE raids.

“[Ethnic enclaves] are places where when migrants come to the country, they can find a community of support,” Wharton said. “They could make a big bullseye.”

Ethnic enclaves are also hubs of cultural contribution. Miller noted the importance of immigrants to American culture.

“We introduce new foods, new music, language and different perspectives,” Miller said. “Just because it’s different, it’s not wrong.”

Stern said the current level of fear is unlike anything she’s seen in her 18 years as an Atlanta lawyer.

“It’s always been very vulnerable to not only be a person of color that’s facing a threat to your freedom or liberty,” Stern said. “When you also are not a citizen of this country, it’s a completely different set of laws, sometimes different languages, a lot of barriers to access resources and your rights and understanding of what your rights are… I’ve never seen the level of fear since Trump got involved, even during Trump 1.0.”

Jones believes the effects of ICE on families and communities call for a different approach.

“There should be an amnesty or something,” Jones* said. “There are so many people here who deserve to have their rights or the opportunity to get their papers because they are good people and deserve the chance to work legally.”

Miller said the violence associated with ICE has been extremely devastating.

“It goes to show that it’s not about getting rid of immigrants or criminals – or how they make us seem like criminals and thieves, or these horrible people –, because they’re not just attacking immigrants,” Miller said. “They’re attacking American citizens… At the end of the day, we’re all humans.”

66.9% of Hispanics were in the labor force in 2023, but 10% of foreign-born Latinos in October 2025 were avoiding jobs where they might be asked about their citizenship status. This has negative implications for the economy and explains the increasing rates of labor unions viewing ICE as a threat to the working class. On Jan. 30 and 31, protestors gathered along Buford Highway against ICE, many of whom held union signs.

Miller explained the value of immigrants in the economy.

“We pay taxes with a valid tax ID,” Miller said. “We fuel the economy. We pay taxes that we never see back.”

Republicans have historically done well with Trump in gaining the Latino vote, the largest non-white voting bloc in America. However, working-class discontent, inflation and immigration policies could spell trouble for the party’s odds in the upcoming Nov. midterms. The capture of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela, a decision described by Kimberly Leonard of Politico as “familiar and politically potent” among Latinos, could help regain support in places like Florida.

Wharton, like many others, is uncertain that it will be enough.

“People are getting detained who are in the legal process, and they’re being detained anyway,” Wharton said. “That, I imagine, would give a lot of immigrant communities from Venezuela and throughout the Latino community a bit of pause, about like, ‘Yeah, but this is still happening.’”

Protests like those along Buford Highway last year and in January, along with the walkout at Midtown, echo patterns of unrest that have reached Europe. On Jan. 31 in Milan, hundreds protested ICE’s presence in the 2026 Winter Olympics. They gathered in the historic Piazza XXV Aprile, a square named for the date of Italy’s liberation from Nazi fascism in 1945, with many drawing comparisons between ICE and fascism.

Jones doubts protests will lead to enough change.

“It’s difficult because the law is the law, and you can protest, you can make your voice heard, but often the law doesn’t do anything,” Jones said. “They won’t care, they’ll just continue. Protesting does help a little, but then they become more aggressive, especially the ICE agents.”

Smith is similarly concerned about the violence associated with ICE.

“With all of the protests and killings, it has been very scary,” Smith said. “I am more aware of my surroundings now and more cautious about where I go. I just do not want to be put in a situation like that simply by being out around town.”

Miller advocated for people to continue speaking out against ICE.

“We can’t let history repeat itself,” Miller said. “We have to fight for our rights and remember that, illegal or not, the Constitution says once you’re on US soil, you have your rights… I just want to remind people that the more we stand up, the more we don’t let them continue to do what they’re doing, we could be the change.”

*Indicates sources who chose to remain anonymous

**To contact Stern to become part of the network, email [email protected]