Pasadena students return to school, with fears and hopes amid immigration raids and fire aftermath

On her first day of school, third-grader Ani Tamazyan was feeling happy, sleepy and “a little nervous.”

Tamazyan was not alone in having first-day jitters. Many of her classmates at Don Benito Fundamental Elementary School in Pasadena raised their hands to share the same thoughts during class on Monday, Aug. 18.

Pasadena Unified School District saw a tumultuous 2024-25 academic year as the Eaton fire burnt down five campuses, spurring several campus consolidations and even relocations for many students and educators.

Tamazyan says she vividly remembers seeing the smoke from her house in Pasadena. Her home and school are still standing, but she says her friend was personally affected.

“My friend from Altadena, their house burnt down and she had to move,” Tamazyan said.

Amid ongoing fire recovery efforts and news of ICE raids in Pasadena and neighboring cities, the theme for the school district this year is “The Power of Us: Rising Together” as some 13,900 students return to class.

Many students who’ve been displaced because of the Eaton fire were relocated to different campuses, and the donor sites have been given additional portable classrooms to accommodate, district officials said last week.

Don Benito Fundamental Elementary School, for example, is sharing its grounds with Pasadena Rosebud Academy, whose campus in Altadena burnt down earlier this year. Ten air-conditioned, portable classrooms and a portion of the Don Benito campus have been set aside for over 150 of Rosebud Academy’s displaced students.

“It’s hard to do the academics when there’s so much going on outside of the classroom. But I think our district did great to make us feel prepared.” — Christine Sandoval

To combat and quell anxieties about the 2025-26 school year, the district is “doubling down” on mental health initiatives and trauma-informed staff training, PUSD Superintendent Dr. Elizabeth Blanco said.

“With the fire and the immigration fears, we’re going to be here to support them through this and make sure the kids have a safe, normal day at school every day,” Blanco said.

In the classroom, some of these mental health initiatives include yoga sessions, breathing exercises, wellness check-in worksheets and even “comfort cubs,” or weighted teddies handed out to students.

Just a day before the beginning of the new school year, elected officials, PUSD staff and community members gathered on the steps of Pasadena City Hall on Aug. 17 to reaffirm their support for immigrant students and parents.

The stepped-up immigration enforcement, promised by Trump in his campaign to return to the Oval Office, brought federal agents to Los Angeles County this summer. Their deportation efforts are targeting dangerous felons, according to ICE officials, who say they are achieving that goal.

But critics of the deportation program say the raids are inhumane and are targeting people without criminal records and instead, are based on apparent race or ethnicity.

PUSD serves a diverse student body, with the majority of students — nearly 60% — identifying as Hispanic or Latino, according to a 2022-23 district report. PUSD’s priorities are “making sure that every child feels welcome at our schools and has a sense of dignity and a sense of belonging,” Blanco said.

Christine Sandoval is Tamazyan’s teacher this year. Sandoval, a longtime Pasadena resident and a teacher for over 20 years, says she feels equipped to make sure her students are successful in learning, even as the district juggles fire recovery and fears of deportations.

“It’s hard to do the academics when there’s so much going on outside of the classroom,” Sandoval said. “But I think our district did great to make us feel prepared.”

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials are not allowed on school grounds “without a lawfully executed court order” and the district does not collect or share information regarding immigration status.

If agents do have a warrant or court order, PUSD staff are instructed to request that law enforcement “check in through a single entry point” and ask that agents provide valid identification and purpose.

Despite all that’s going on, both inside and outside of the classroom, Tamazyan says she’s excited to be back at school.

Her goal for this year: “learning how to divide and decimals.”

Victoria Le is an intern with the Southern California News Group, through a partnership with the L.A. chapter of the Asian American Journalists Association.