Recent raids affect students’ mental health
By Anntonete Gajol Abuyen, September 8, 2026
Thousands of students step foot onto Cal Poly Pomona’s campus, eager to begin the school year. While some are worried about parking, others are anxious due to the nationwide increase in Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity.
According to the Deportation Data Project, ICE arrested nearly 50,000 people in July. The number of arrests has significantly increased since President Donald Trump was inaugurated in 2025. During his second term, about 580,000 people have been arrested by immigration officers under the Trump administration.
“The detention centers are torture chambers,” said Álvaro Huerta, an urban regional planning professor.
According to Huerta, people are being served inedible food, being deprived of sleep and are being denied medical care. The shift in treatment toward detainees was drastic for Huerta, who was born and raised in Los Angeles in the 1960s.
“[ICE] wasn’t the terror that immigrants are experiencing today,” Huerta said.
Huerta added what’s being done to immigrants is essentially domestic terrorism.
CPP is a Hispanic-Serving Institution. The surge in arrests and poor living conditions are a real threat to the Latino community on campus. The word “fear” doesn’t even begin to encapsulate what students are feeling, having seen people be taken from their homes and families torn apart such as Katelyn Peralta, a first-generation criminology student. Peralta shared her experience living near an ICE detention center with her family.
“We normally see ICE patrols come over to where our house is,” Peralta said. “One time, my dad went to go pump gas and saw three ICE cars detaining a group of workers.”
She said her father was born in Mexico but has the legal status to be in America. However, Peralta believes ICE agents don’t seem to care about verifying a person’s status anymore.
“I’m just worried that he’ll get pulled over, they’ll take him, and we won’t know where he’s going,” Peralta said. “I have this anxiety because I’m really close to my dad.”
Peralta is not the only student who feels this way. Others share a similar sentiment.
Valeria Acevedo, a psychology student, was worried for her grandparents who immigrated from Mexico.
“I would think about how it would affect my family, because even though I was born here and I have all the legal documents, it could impact some of my other family members,” Acevedo said.
The common thread between these students was constant anxiety. Throughout the 2025-26 school year, Peralta and Acevedo both opened about the stress that comes with the possibility of losing a loved one to a detention center.
CPP offers counseling and psychological services with 13 different counselors for students who are experiencing anxiety due to the ICE raids.
“What we’re trying to do is maximize our services and our resources to reach the most number of students that we can,” said Director of Counseling and Psychological Services Sean Cheng.
CAPS provides appointment and walk-in services for students who are in acute or immediate distress. Students can meet with a counselor up to eight times per academic year, said Cheng. These services are located in Building 66, room 116, across from the Bronco Bookstore.
Cheng also said specialized workshops are held for students who are experiencing similar issues. For example, CAPS hosted a workshop for managing test anxiety during the Fall 2025 semester.
“It’s much better to address a problem when it’s smaller rather than just let it fester and let it grow,” Cheng said.
