Columbia Heights schools aid children after raids

In Columbia Heights, Minnesota, months after a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation concluded, educators and mental health professionals are working to address the lingering trauma experienced by young children in the community. The operation, which involved thousands of immigration officers making arrests in the suburban Minneapolis area earlier this year, led to widespread fear, school absences, and significant psychological distress among students.

At Valley View Elementary School, social worker Nicole Herje uses a therapy dog named Sage as part of a broader strategy to help children process their experiences. Many students witnessed arrests, lost relatives to deportation, or endured weeks indoors to avoid officers. School attendance plummeted during the enforcement surge, and at least four students from the school were themselves detained and sent to a family detention center in Texas. The operation, which officials said resulted in over 4,000 arrests and multiple shootings, two of them fatal, ended in February.

To support children who remained at home, Columbia Heights Public Schools offered virtual learning. During a Zoom session in February, Herje led...