Oakland Cuts Newcomer Classes as New Immigrant Student Numbers Fall

California school districts are closing specialized classes for new immigrant students as border crossings declined in early 2025 under new federal immigration policies, reducing the number of students in their first three years in the country. In Oakland Unified, the number of new immigrant students arriving annually fell from more than 1,300 between the 2017-18 and 2024-25 school years to 498 in 2025-26. As of Oct. 7, only 212 first-time new immigrant students had enrolled for the current school year, most of them in elementary grades.

Oakland Unified reduced the number of middle and high schools hosting newcomer programs from 17 last year to six this year. Nicole Knight, executive director of English language learner and multilingual achievement for the district, said the reduction forces students into mainstream classes sooner. "That's a challenge for teachers who don't feel equipped" to help students just beginning to learn English or those who missed months or years of schooling in their home countries, Knight said. She said some teachers may not have received training to support these students.

The enrollment decline also affects district funding, which is calculated per student, Knight said. She added that new immigrant students had previously helped keep bilingual immersion classes fully enrolled. "We're suffering from declining enrollment, and it does make visible how much newcomers were helping us stay afloat," she said.

Los Angeles Unified reported newcomer enrollment fell from 20,755 students in 2024-25 to 11,103 in 2026-27, while overall district enrollment declined 8.3% between fall 2025 and fall 2027. San Juan Unified, near Sacramento, saw newcomer enrollment decline about 13.6%, from 974 in 2025-26 to 842 this school year. Raj Rai, a spokesperson for San Juan Unified, said many families arrived as refugees or through the Special Immigrant Visa program for Afghan nationals who worked with the U.S. government rather than crossing the border. "We continue to see some newcomer families relocate to our district from other states to join relatives and established communities," Rai said. The district's newcomer programs and support services have not been affected, and it recently started an English Club that meets on Saturdays.

Statewide newcomer enrollment fell from a record 236,958 in 2024-25 to 228,780 in 2025-26; figures for 2026-27 are not yet available. Sam Finn, executive director of the California Newcomer Network, said many of those students entered before the Trump administration's immigration policy changes and are now in their second or third year. "We're about to reach a cliff where we'll have had a couple years without significant entries," Finn said. Knight said Oakland Unified is retaining its curriculum in case numbers rise again. "It was a huge effort to build out all of these programs and expertise and curriculum, and a real labor of love, and we don't want all of that to go away, and then we don't have access to that when we need it again," Knight said.