Eleven-year-old Jocelynn Rojo Carranza tragically passed away on Feb. 8 after her mother found her unresponsive five days earlier. Carranza had taken her own life because of relentless bullying regarding her parents’ immigration status. 

President Donald Trump is already fulfilling his promise of mass deportation of immigrants crossing the border and those already which began on Jan. 21.

Schools should be a safe space where children can gaIt is essential for a child to feel safe at school because children who are bullied are often left feeling isolated, ashamed and powerless. Despite the school knowing about Carranza being bullied, as she was seeing a counselor without her mother’s knowledge, aggressors continued to harass Carranza about her parents’ immigration status. The school and school district should be held accountable for their lack of communication with the mother of the Carranza.

Students’ taunts led to her believing she was going to be left alone if her parents were to be deported. The immigration status of her parents was out of her control, which adds to why this incident is devastating. 

Another student’s mother, who attended the same school, has come forward as her daughter was in fear of her Hispanic friends being the next target of Trump’s deportation agenda. 

The media is also to be blamed for the bullying as it is at the fingertips of children, especially when it is not regulated by parental supervision.

Anti-immigration views have been growing around the country due to the extreme nature of the person currently in the Oval Office, leaving children of immigrant families vulnerable to the effects of bullying. 

The White House released a deportation ASMR video on Jan. 18, believing they were being “aesthetic.” In reality, it enables people to be comfortable with their bigotry, and in the case of Carranza, it gives leverage to bullies. One of Carranza’s friends overheard other students saying, “ICE is coming,” but they never grasped the concept of deportations until the past couple of weeks. 

The real problem in this case is the protection of innocence for children that was taken advantage of by the bullies while nothing was being done by an institution parents should trust.