Immigrants learn English for free at California colleges. Under Trump, some are skipping class
Only 7% of LAist readers currently donate to fund our journalism. Help raise that number, so our nonprofit newsroom stays strong in the face of federal cuts.
They speak Farsi, Cantonese, Spanish and at least two dozen other languages. Some earned master's degrees in their home countries, while others never finished middle school. At California's community colleges, more than 290,000 students take free, non-credit English as a Second Language classes.
As immigrants, many of these students enroll in the classes to integrate into American life, advance in their jobs, support their children or build community. The classes have grown in popularity in recent years 鈥 for the state鈥檚 community college system, which has struggled to fully rebound to pre-pandemic student counts.
But as news of international student visa revocations and during President Donald Trump鈥檚 second term spread across the state, many community colleges have seen some of these students switch to online learning, or stop showing up to class altogether.
...
