Children of illegal immigrants fear exposing parents on college financial aid form: report

Applying for college aid has become even more stressful for some students who now fear "outing" their undocumented parents on financial aid forms as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed mass deportations, according to a Los Angeles Times report.

"Why does Trump getting elected mean I might have to suffer as a citizen for my parents’ choice of moving to a better life in America?" one high school student, whose father illegally immigrated to the U.S. from Guatemala 28 years ago, told the newspaper.

The teen and her father recently visited college counselor Lynda McGee, according to the report. Her father wanted McGee to help the student fill out the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, the form commonly known as FAFSA, which schools use to calculate Pell Grants, federal loans and other financial aid for students.

But the application calls for parents' Social Security numbers, and students and counselors fear a missing entry could raise questions about immigration status. 

"Unfortunately, I have dozens of students in this same situation," McGee told the LA Times. "They have to choose between their future and that of their parents."

High school seniors whose parents are in the country illegally worry a question on the Free Application for Federal Student Aid could raise red flags about their parents' immigration status.  (Jenna Watson/IndyStar via Imagn Content Services, LLC)

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About 5.1 million U.S. citizen children live with an undocumented family member, according to the American Immigration Council, a pro-immigration group.

Trump said he is prepared to declare a national emergency and potentially use military assets as part of a mass deportation effort. While the president says removing illegal immigrants who have committed crimes is the priority, his administration is prepared to advance to otherwise law-abiding immigrants after that.

Although guidelines from the Department of Education state that Social Security data is not shared for any purpose other than determining and awarding financial assistance, college counselors and student advocacy groups are warning students from "mixed-status families" that there could still be danger.

The National College Attainment Network, a nonprofit student advocacy group, said it "cannot assure mixed-status students and families" that FAFSA data will continue to be protected "in light of the priorities publicly outlined by the incoming administration."

Donald Trump speaks with NBC News host Kristen Welker in his first interview since winning the election. (Screenshot/NBC)

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"It’s already a stressful process navigating how to get into college and how to pay for it as a first-generation student who is doing mostly all of this on your own," a student whose parents are undocumented immigrants from Puebla, Mexico, told the Times. "But with this FAFSA confusion and wait, it feels like my wings are being clipped."

The father from Guatemala still wanted his daughter to apply for aid.

"Filling out the FAFSA might or might not hurt me. But if it can help her, she should do it," he said, according to the Times.

In addition to targeting those in the country illegally, Trump has also long advocated for ending birthright citizenship via executive order "on day one," which would almost certainly be challenged on constitutional grounds.

Asked about the millions of U.S. citizens living in mixed-status households on NBC News last month, Trump suggested deporting entire family units.

"I don’t want to be breaking up families," Trump said. "So the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back."

Tom Homan, Trump's "border czar," has floated the idea of putting the children of illegal immigrants in halfway homes as part of the incoming administration's mass deportation plan. Alternatively, the president-elect has suggested deporting U.S. citizens along with their parents.  (Mark Abramson/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

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But the president-elect was softer on "Dreamers" who entered the U.S. as minors and were shielded from deportation under an Obama-era order.

"We have to do something about the Dreamers, because these are people that have been brought here at a very young age, and many of these are middle-aged people now, they don't even speak the language of their country," he said, adding, "I will work with the Democrats on a plan."