The Failure of Leadership Standards to Support Undocumented Students in an Era of Political Hostility and Vitriol

• In Event: Politics and Policies of Threat: Detention, De-authorization, and Disappearance of Pk-20 Immigrant & International Students

Abstract

The education of undocumented students in the United States has become increasingly precarious in light of the anti-immigrant rhetoric, executive orders, policy mandates, and immigration enforcement actions pursued during the second Trump Administration (Del Pilar, 2025). While such sentiment was also present during the first Trump Administration—and prior Democratic administrations—there is little doubt that we are witnessing a resurgence of extreme anti-immigrant bigotry fueled by white Christian Nationalism and radical conservative politics (National Immigrant Justice Center, 2025a; Whitehead & Perry, 2020).
Since January of 2025, immigrants have been targeted and abducted by ICE agents from their workplaces, homes, courthouses, and institutions of higher learning, as the Department of Homeland Security has been emboldened by the President’s policies and the broader Republican leadership (National Immigrant Justice Center, 2025b). The dissolution of long-standing policies protecting “sensitive locations” such as schools, the criminalization of individuals interfering with immigration enforcement, and the introduction of legislation requiring schools to collect immigration status data have placed school leaders at the front lines of this political and moral conflict (Immigrant Legal Resource Center, 2025). Leadership preparation programs—and the standards that guide them—have failed to meaningfully prepare educational leaders to respond with integrity and justice.
We build on the work of previous scholars who have critiqued leadership standards (e.g. Cambron-McCabe & McCarthy, 2016; English 2005) to critically examine the National Educational Leadership Preparation (NELP) standards and the Professional Standards for Educational Leaders (PSEL). We argue that they inadequately equip leaders to recognize or navigate the complex sociopolitical terrain intensified under the current Administration. Drawing on critical policy studies and frameworks of social justice (Furman, 2012), we argue that current standards lack the criticality, moral rigor, and transformative vision required for educational leaders to act with courage and principle in defense of undocumented communities.
Although the NELP and PSEL standards claim commitments to equity and cultural responsiveness (National Policy Board for Educational Administration, 2018), they remain limited. For instance, despite directly referencing “equity” and “cultural responsiveness,” the standards do not prepare leaders to engage in political advocacy or moral leadership—both essential in resisting anti-immigrant hostilities and protecting undocumented students. The sanitized language of the standards often avoids direct engagement with systemic injustice and fails to guide leaders in resisting policies that harm vulnerable communities.
Leadership for justice requires more than technical competence; it demands critical consciousness, ethical courage, and a willingness to contest hegemonic power (Freire, 1970; Khalifa et al., 2016). Such dispositions are neither acknowledged, cultivated, nor prioritized in leadership preparation programs (Khalifa et al., 2016). With the current federal backlash against “Diversity Equity and Inclusion,” it has become impossible (or criminalized) to seriously engage these topics in many leadership classrooms, leaving school leaders unprepared and with little skill or know-how to effectively respond to the policy issues and rhetoric affecting our most vulnerable children.
We call for a radical reimagining of leadership preparation—one grounded in critical frameworks that center resistance, relational care, and political consciousness. In this perilous moment—when fear is pervasive and protections are fragile—principled leadership is imperative.

Authors

• Érica Fernández, Miami University (OH)

• Gerardo R. López, Michigan State University

• Marina López, University of California - Los Angeles