In response to reports of a nationwide immigration raid that was scheduled to target approximately 8,400 undocumented immigrants later this month, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued a statementlast Thursday saying that there are no nationwide enforcement actions planned at this time, as all upcoming operations have been reviewed and “adjusted accordingly” given the impact of the recent hurricanes in Texas and Florida . In this statement, ICE spokeswoman Sarah Rodriguez stated there is no nationwide operation planned at this time because “the priority in the affected areas should remain focused on life-saving and life-sustaining activities.” While the statement released by ICE officials was an attempt to encourage undocumented immigrants in the affected areas to seek help, many undocumented foreign nationals still fear that the devastating effects of Hurricane Irma and Hurricane Harvey will still not stop immigration officials from enforcing policies.

While the Trump administration dramatically increases immigration arrests and deportation orders, children of undocumented immigrant parents have reported a corresponding increase in fear, anxiety, and emotional trauma, and school officials have noted increased cases of absenteeism. Lisseth Rojas-Flores, an associate professor of marital and family therapy at Fuller Theological Seminary in California, explains to the Guardian what these children are going through: “Kids start lagging behind academically, having social stress, anxiety and depression. With the new administration and all the threats for deportation that are so vivid and so real, and all the rhetoric that’s going around, the anxiety escalates to a point that can be very paralyzing for some of these kids, who don’t want to go to school, or who go to school and sit in there and still worry about their families.”