This post was updated Jan. 28 at 8:49 p.m.

Thousands of students may face the consequences of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation and immigration reform plans when he takes office Monday.

The UC system this year enrolled about 4,000 undocumented students, many of whom are Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients who may be living with undocumented family members, said a UCLA spokesperson in an emailed statement. Around 87,000 undocumented students attend colleges and universities in California, representing more than 20% of the nation’s undocumented students in higher education. For many of these students, Trump’s plans may pose a threat to their education and livelihoods.

Karla Aguayo, director of legal programs at the nonprofit Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, said an increasing number of students have visited its offices on 18 California college campuses for legal consultation. She added that the number of undocumented students resorting to desperate measures, including marriages they wouldn’t have otherwise considered, has more than doubled since the election, citing at least 55 cases recorded at CHIRLA’s offices in the month following the election.

“There are a lot of young folks who are making the tough decision to marry their longtime partners in an effort to really try to seek some sort of relief, to be able to stay in the country,” Aguayo said.

At Los Angeles-based nonprofit Esperanza Immigrant Rights Project, directing attorney Heidy Pineda said the organization is strategizing based on the challenges it faced during Trump’s first term, such as prioritizing cases involving mixed-status families. In Trump’s first term, his “zero-tolerance policy” separated more than 3,900 children from their families.

“We are concerned, and we’re getting prepared for what’s ahead of us,” Pineda said. “It’s never been easy. … Immigration is a very divisive issue.”

Trump said in an NBC interview following his election that his plans to use military force to deport millions will begin with undocumented immigrants who have criminal records, reinforcing his campaign trail platform to carry out the “largest” deportation operation in United States history.

Just one day after Congress certified Trump’s win in early January, the U.S. Border Patrol began conducting raids in Kern County, which is located about 100 miles north of UCLA. U.S. Customs and Border Protection released a statement Jan. 10 confirming 78 arrests during a three-day operation that targeted criminals who were unlawfully in the country from countries including Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Ecuador, Mexico and China, according to KGET Bakersfield.

Deportations under Trump’s administration are expected to begin as early as Tuesday morning, according to the Wall Street Journal.

Pineda said immigration raids in California or on federally protected areas such as schools are unlikely. Furthermore, the UCLA Center for Immigration Law and Policy released a statement following the election vowing to support undocumented students and included a guide to UC policies, which guarantee students’ privacy and protection from federal immigration enforcement “except as required by law.”

However, Project 2025 – a proposed presidential transition plan that former Trump administration staffers began writing in 2022 – calls for rescinding “sensitive zones,” including schools, hospitals and places of worship, from protection against immigration enforcement. Amada Armenta, the UCLA Latino Policy & Politics Institute faculty director, added that sanctuary locations like California – which are protected by state or local law from federal immigration enforcement – may face increased pressure to comply with federal policies.

“They (the Trump administration) are certainly going to try to punish sanctuary cities and states by withholding funding for not cooperating with their deportation plans,” Armenta said.

Based on Trump’s past actions and current pledges, students and their families may face challenges in different facets of their lives.

Some students may have concerns about filling out the FAFSA, which is currently open and due next June for those who need financial aid in the 2025-2026 school year. Armenta said fear around disclosing personal information including the citizenship statuses of parents for necessary financial support may impact access to education among undocumented youth.

“There will be a chilling effect on FAFSA applications,” Armenta said. “Not knowing if it’s safe to give the federal government this level of information is an increased layer of complexity.”

Furthermore, recipients of DACA – a policy protecting undocumented youth from deportations – may be at risk of having their status revoked, Armenta added. Trump tried to end the DACA program in his first term, but the Supreme Court blocked this action in 2019. However, with courts shifting conservatively in recent years – as seen with the Supreme Court overturning Roe v. Wade in 2022 to limit abortion rights – and a Republican-controlled House and Senate in the upcoming term, Trump’s policies may receive less pushback than before, according to Bloomberg Law.

At-risk temporary protections also include student visas. In his first term, Trump prevented the entry of nationals from 13 countries – including multiple Muslim-majority countries – through an executive order that the Supreme Court upheld. After Trump was elected for a second term, USC and UC Berkeley were two of at least eight colleges across the nation that issued warnings ahead of winter break for international students to return to the U.S. before Monday to avoid complications of a “likely” travel ban going into effect, according to the New York Times.

“We recognize there is uncertainty and anxiety among many in the University of California community following the presidential election results,” a UC Office of the President spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “As with any change in a presidential administration, we are monitoring the transition closely and assessing the potential impacts to the UC community.”

In light of uncertainty and anxiety as Trump’s term draws closer, Pineda and Aguayo both said students should seek professional legal aid immediately on immigration-related concerns. Having the contact of an immigration attorney readily accessible in case of an emergency and knowing one’s rights in various situations is crucial, Pineda added.

In addition to local nonprofits such as CHIRLA that provide free-to-low-cost legal help for undocumented students in California, UCLA also provides free legal assistance for students and immediate family members through the Undocumented Student Program and the UC Immigrant Legal Services Center, a UCLA spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

Armenta said with the new administration’s immigration rhetoric and proposed policies causing harm to students’ well-being and education, the actions and discourse of institutions such as universities remain critical at this time.

“Everyone who cares about democracy should be worried when it comes to institutions,” Armenta said. “The administration is going to put pressure on institutions in whatever way they can.”

Contributing reports from Nora Alsabi, Daily Bruin contributor.