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Last time Donald Trump was president, rumors of immigration raids terrorized the Oregon community where Gustavo Balderas was the school superintendent.

Word spread that immigration agents were going to try to enter schools. There was no truth to it, but school staff members had to find students who were avoiding school and coax them back to class.

“People just started ducking and hiding,” Balderas said.

Educators around the country are bracing for upheaval, whether or not the president-elect follows through on his pledge to deport millions of immigrants who are in the country illegally. Even if he only talks about it, children of immigrants will suffer, educators and legal observers said.

If “you constantly threaten people with the possibility of mass deportation, it really inhibits peoples’ ability to function in society and for their kids to get an education,” said Hiroshi Motomura, a professor at UCLA School of Law.

That fear already has started for many.

“The kids are still coming to school, but they’re scared,” said Almudena Abeyta, superintendent of Chelsea Public Schools, a Boston suburb that’s long been a first stop for Central American immigrants coming to Massachusetts. Now Haitians are making the city home and sending their kids to school there.

“They’re asking: ‘Are we going to be deported?’” said Abeyta.

Many parents in her district grew up in countries where the federal government ran schools and may think it’s the same here. The day after the election, Abeyta sent a letter home assuring parents their children are welcome and safe, no matter who is president.

Immigration officials have avoided arresting parents or students at schools. Since 2011, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has operated under a policy that immigration agents should not arrest or conduct other enforcement actions near “sensitive locations,” including schools, hospitals and places of worship. Doing so might curb access to essential services, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas wrote in a 2021 policy update.

The Heritage Foundation’s policy roadmap for Trump’s second term, Project 2025, calls for rescinding the guidance on “sensitive places.” Trump tried to distance himself from the proposals during the campaign, but he has nominated many who worked on the plan for his new administration, including Tom Homan for “border czar.”

If immigration agents were to arrest a parent dropping off children at school, it could set off mass panic, said Angelica Salas, executive director of the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights in Los Angeles.

“If something happens at one school, it spreads like wildfire and kids stop coming to school,” she said.

Balderas, now the superintendent in Beaverton, a different Portland suburb, told the school committee there this month it was time to prepare for a more determined Trump administration. In case schools are targeted, Beaverton will train staff not to allow immigration agents inside.

“All bets are off with Trump,” said Balderas, who is also president of ASSA, The School Superintendents Association. “If something happens, I feel like it will happen a lot quicker than last time.”

Many school officials are reluctant to talk about their plans or concerns, some out of fear of drawing attention to their immigrant students. One school administrator serving many children of Mexican and Central American immigrants in the Midwest said their school has invited immigration attorneys to help parents formalize any plans for their children’s care in case they are deported. The administrator spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Speaking up on behalf of immigrant families also can put superintendents at odds with school board members.

“This is a very delicate issue,” said Viridiana Carrizales, chief executive officer of ImmSchools, a nonprofit that trains schools on supporting immigrant students.

She’s received 30 requests for help since the election, including two from Texas superintendents who don’t think their conservative school boards would approve of publicly affirming immigrant students’ right to attend school or district plans to turn away immigration agents.

More than two dozen superintendents and district communications representatives contacted by The Associated Press either ignored or declined requests for comment.

“This is so speculative that we would prefer not to comment on the topic,” wrote Scott Pribble, a spokesperson for Denver Public Schools.

The city of Denver has helped more than 40,000 migrants in the last two years with shelter or a bus ticket elsewhere. It’s also next door to Aurora, one of two cities where Trump has said he would start his mass deportations.

When pressed further, Pribble responded, “Denver Public Schools is monitoring the situation while we continue to serve, support, and protect all of our students as we always have.”

Like a number of big-city districts, Denver’s school board during the first Trump administration passed a resolution promising to protect its students from immigration authorities pursuing them or their information. According to the 2017 resolution, Denver will not “grant access to our students” unless federal agents can provide a valid search warrant.

The rationale has been that students cannot learn if they fear immigration agents will take them or their parents away while they’re on campus. School districts also say these policies reaffirm their students’ constitutional right to a free, public education, regardless of immigration status.

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The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — A federal appeals court Wednesday ruled that Border Patrol agents cannot cut razor wire that Texas installed on the U.S.-Mexico border in the town of Eagle Pass, which has become the center of the state’s aggressive measures to curb migrant crossings.

The decision by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is a victory for Texas in a long-running rift over immigration policy with the Biden administration, which has also sought to remove floating barriers installed on the Rio Grande.

Texas has continued to install razor wire along its roughly 1,200-mile (1,900 kilometers) border with Mexico over the past year. In a 2-1 ruling, the court issued an injunction blocking Border Patrol agents from damaging the wire in Eagle Pass.

“We continue adding more razor wire border barrier,” Republican Gov. Greg Abbott posted on the social platform X in response to the ruling.

A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Wednesday.

Some migrants have been injured by the sharp wire, and the Justice Department has argued the barrier impedes the U.S. government’s ability to patrol the border, including coming to the aid of migrants in need of help. Texas contended in the lawsuit originally filed last year that federal government was “undermining” the state’s border security efforts by cutting the razor wire.

The ruling comes ahead of President-elect Donald Trump returning to office and pledging a crackdown on immigration. Earlier this month, a Texas official offered a parcel of rural ranchland along the U.S.-Mexico border to use as a staging area for potential mass deportations.

Arrivals at the U.S.-Mexico border have dropped 40% from an all-time high in December. U.S. officials mostly credit Mexican vigilance around rail yards and highway checkpoints.

AUSTIN – KXAN reports that despite Texas’ economic dependence on water and the infrastructure that moves it, a new report finds the state faces a long-term water supply deficit. The report by the Center for Energy Studies at Rice University’s Baker Institute and commissioned by Texas 2036, said the state is economically vulnerable should a severe drought occur. It estimates that if a years-long drought similar to that of the 1950s happened, then as soon as 2030 Texas will endure $160 billion in annual GDP losses, 800,000 jobs lost, and an exodus of hundreds of thousands of people leaving for other states. The report finds a drought would also impact the state’s ability to generate energy, costing millions and perhaps billions in economic damages per day.

“It creates a real possibility of having rolling blackouts and electrical outages that are sustained over time,” said Jeremy Mazur, Texas 2036 Director of Infrastructure and Natural Resources Policy. Texas 2036 is a nonpartisan nonprofit organization focused on shaping Texas’ future. The report found Texas’ water woes could be exacerbated by infrastructure issues as well. It said that barring significant infrastructure investments, deteriorating water and wastewater systems will contribute to nearly $320 billion in GDP losses, “an amount equal to the size of the state’s current two-year budget.” The report quantifies the water supply deficit as nearly 6.9 million acre-feet of water by the year 2070, enough water to supply as many as 20.7 million homes for a year. It said over the next 50 years the state will need to invest $59 billion in new water supplies, $74 billion in fixing deteriorating water systems, and $21 billion in fixing broken wastewater systems.

TEXAS BORDER – The Dallas Morning News reports Texas unveiled its newly acquired border ranch — offered as the site of detention facilities to help the Trump administration with proposed mass deportations — and Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham said Tuesday the state is looking to identify additional land to aid the federal effort. The General Land Office has more than 13 million acres of land under its jurisdiction, Buckingham said. “If the Trump administration thinks it’ll be helpful, we want to be good partners with them,” she said. The effort, known as the Jocelyn Initiative, is named for Jocelyn Nungaray, a 12-year-old Houston girl who was killed in June. Two Venezuelan immigrants who were in the country illegally have been charged with murder and sexual assault.

“We will continue to fight to ensure that our state remains a beacon of hope, justice and dignity for all who call Texas home,” Buckingham said. In an interview with The Dallas Morning News, Buckingham said her agency is not looking to buy additional land and added she wants to be supportive of the incoming Trump administration. Buckingham, a former state senator whose agency manages state land, introduced the news media to the 1,402-acre ranch purchased in October for $3.82 million, according to a purchasing agreement obtained by The News. She stood before a portion of border wall the state is building on the property. Buckingham said her agency bought the ranch after the previous owner refused to let the state build its border wall on the property. Buckingham criticized the former landowner Tuesday, saying her decision to block the border wall contributed to drug trafficking and illegal crossings into Texas. Andrea Kate Sheerin, who sold the ranch to the state, declined to comment when reached via text message Tuesday morning.

NEW YORK (AP) — Walmart’s sweeping rollback of its diversity policies is the strongest indication yet of a profound shift taking hold at U.S. companies that are re-evaluating the legal and political risks associated with bold programs to bolster historically underrepresented groups.

The changes announced by the world’s biggest retailer on Monday followed a string of legal victories by conservative groups that have filed an onslaught of lawsuits challenging corporate and federal programs aimed at elevating minority and women-owned businesses and employees.

The retreat from such programs crystalized with the election of former President Donald Trump, whose administration is certain to make dismantling diversity, equity and inclusion programs a priority. Trump’s incoming deputy chief of policy will be his former adviser Stephen Miller, who leads a group called America First Legal that has aggressively challenged corporate DEI policies.

“There has been a lot of reassessment of risk looking at programs that could be deemed to constitute reverse discrimination,” said Allan Schweyer, principal researcher at the Human Capital Center at the Conference Board.

“This is another domino to fall and it is a rather large domino,” he added.

Among other changes, Walmart said it will no longer give priority treatment to suppliers owned by women or minorities. The company also will not renew a five-year commitment for a racial equity center set up in 2020 after the police killing of George Floyd. And it pulled out of a prominent gay rights index.

Schweyer said the biggest trigger for companies making such changes is simply a reassessment of their legal risk exposure, which began after U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling in June 2023 that ended affirmative action in college admissions. Since then, conservative groups using similar arguments have secured court victories against various diversity programs, especially those that steer contracts to minority or women-owned businesses.

Most recently, the conservative Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty won a victory in a case against the U.S. Department of Transportation over its use of a program that gives priority to minority-owned businesses when it awards contracts.

Companies are seeing a big legal risk in continuing with DEI efforts, said Dan Lennington, a deputy counsel at the institute. His organization says it has identified more than 60 programs in the federal government that it considers discriminatory, he said.

“We have a legal landscape within the entire federal government, all three branches — the U.S. Supreme Court, the Congress and the President — are all now firmly pointed in the direction towards equality of individuals and individualized treatment of all Americans, instead of diversity, equity and inclusion treating people as members of racial groups,” Lennington said.

The Trump administration is also likely to take direct aim at DEI initiatives through executive orders and other policies that affect private companies, especially federal contractors.

“The impact of the election on DEI policies is huge. It can’t be overstated,” said Jason Schwartz, co-chair of the Labor & Employment Practice Group at law firm Gibson Dunn.

With Miller returning to the White House, rolling back DEI initiatives is likely to be a priority, Schwartz said.

“Companies are trying to strike the right balance to make clear they’ve got an inclusive workplace where everyone is welcome, and they want to get the best talent, while at the same time trying not to alienate various parts of their employees and customer base who might feel one way or the other. It’s a virtually impossible dilemma,” Schwartz said.

Marc Morial, CEO of the National Urban League, a civil rights group that has worked with Walmart on diversity and inclusion efforts in the past, called the company’s pullback from DEI “stunning” and “unexpected.”

“This is inconsistent with the Walmart I know,” said Morial, who argued that DEI policies are how organizations ensure compliance with federal anti-discrimination laws like the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and any suggestion of favoritism or preferential treatment “is really defamatory against what DEI represents.”

He said that Walmart would see “a strong message” to the decision but that civil rights leaders “are first very interested in dialogue” with Walmart executives.

A recent survey by Pew Research Center showed that workers are divided on the merits of DEI policies. While still broadly popular, the share of workers who said focusing on workplace diversity was mostly a good thing fell to 52% in the October survey, compared to 56% in a similar survey in February 2023. Rachel Minkin, a research associate at Pew, called it a small but significant shift in short amount of time.

There will be more companies pulling back from their DEI policies, but it likely won’t be a retreat across the board, said David Glasgow, executive director of the Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging at New York University.

“There are vastly more companies that are sticking with DEI,” Glasgow said. “The only reason you don’t hear about it is most of them are doing it by stealth. They’re putting their heads down and doing DEI work and hoping not to attract attention.”

Glasgow advises organizations to stick to their own core values, because attitudes toward the topic can change quickly in the span of four years.

“It’s going to leave them looking a little bit weak if there’s a kind of flip-flopping, depending on whichever direction the political winds are blowing,” he said.

One reason DEI programs exist is because without those programs, companies may be vulnerable to lawsuits for traditional discrimination. “Really think carefully about the risks in all directions on this topic,” Glasgow said.

Walmart confirmed will no longer consider race and gender as a litmus test to improve diversity when it offers supplier contracts. Walmart says its U.S. businesses sourced more than $13 billion in goods and services from diverse suppliers in fiscal year 2024, including businesses owned by minorities, women and veterans.

It was unclear how its relationships with such business would change going forward. Organizations that have partnered with Walmart on its diversity initiatives offered a cautious response.

The Women’s Business Enterprise National Council, a non-profit that last year named Walmart one of America’s top corporation for women-owned enterprises, said it was still evaluating the impact of Walmart’s announcement.

Pamela Prince-Eason, the president and CEO of the organization, said she hoped Walmart’s need to cater to its diverse customer base will continue to drive contracts to women-owned suppliers even if the company has no explicit dollar goals.

“I suspect Walmart will continue to have one of the most inclusive supply chains in the World,” Prince-Eason wrote. “Any retailer’s ability to serve the communities they operate in will continue to value understanding their customers, (many of which are women), in order to better provide products and services desired and no one understands customers better than Walmart.”

Walmart’s announcement came after the company spoke directly with conservative political commentator and activist Robby Starbuck, who has been going after corporate DEI policies, calling out individual companies on the social media platform X. Several of those companies have subsequently announced that they are pulling back their initiatives, including Ford, Harley-Davidson, Lowe’s and Tractor Supply.

Walmart confirmed to The Associated Press that it will better monitor its third-party marketplace items to make sure they don’t feature sexual and transgender products aimed at minors. The company also will stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s annual benchmark index that measures workplace inclusion for LGBTQ+ employees.

A Walmart spokesperson added that some of the changes were already in progress and not as a result of conversations that it had with Starbuck.

RaShawn “Shawnie” Hawkins, senior director of the HRC Foundation’s Workplace Equality Program, said companies that “abandon” their commitments workplace inclusion policies “are shirking their responsibility to their employees, consumers, and shareholders.” She said the buying power of LGBTQ customers is powerful and noted that the index will have record participation of more than 1,400 companies in 2025.