Washington DC - Teachers and students are speaking out against Trump administration policies targeting schools for immigration enforcement, demanding instead greater investments in supporting education.

"Today I'm here because our schools are under threat," Alejandra Gonzalez Rizo, a former DACA recipient and eighth-grade teacher in Washington DC, said during a press conference on Thursday.

"Not just from the lack of resources and underfunding, overcrowded classrooms, or outdated materials, but something much worse – the threat of armed immigration agents intimidating families and abducting children and teachers from our learning places."

"When teachers, students, and staff are forcibly removed from their classrooms and even disappeared from the country as we saw in the Miami public school teacher, it doesn't just leave an empty chair," Gonzalez Rizo continued. "It leaves wounds – deep ones – on the school and the students, the community."

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One week before Donald Trump took office, a middle-school science teacher and DACA recipient in Miami was detained by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and deported to Honduras. He was reportedly 24 years old and had lived in the US since he was 13.

The administration has since rescinded restrictions on immigration raids at schools, hospitals, houses of worship, and other areas deemed "sensitive."

"No child should sit in the classroom wondering if today is the day that their parents disappear from their lives. No parent should have to choose between sending their kid to school and risking their family's separation, or keeping them home and denying them an education," Gonzalez Rizo said.

Educators have warned of the devastating consequences of Trump's mass deportation agenda, including budget proposals to strip funding from crucial programs – like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program – while devoting billions more to deportations and so-called "border security."

The president, meanwhile, has vowed to dismantle the US Department of Education.

High-school principal Angel Barragan said, "Every single day I come to school, I hear about students having fear about what's happening outside of our walls. Every single day."

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A current DACA recipient, Barragan has been in the US since he was 10 years old. His father was deported when he was 17, leaving a lasting impact on him and his family.

"Schools need to be a safe place for young people, free of fear from ICE agents or other institutional policies that will harm their families," Barragan insisted.

Daniela Silva, a high-school teacher and former DACA recipient, echoed his concerns, saying, "As a teacher, I've asked for more pencils, for papers, for tissues, but I've never once asked for armed agents on campus throughout my career."

"Being a teacher is hard enough, and it should not be a part of my job to mitigate the consequences of cruel and unnecessary policies, especially ones that target our schools, our colleagues, and our communities," she added.

Alexander Fuerte, a high-school student and organizer, added: "Ultimately, it's a really sad reality that we are living in. It's cruel that we have to be scared of receiving an education just because it means we can lose our rights as American citizens."

"We are seeing the start of a fascist government. We're seeing censorship in our schools, censorship in our media, censorship in our own peers being silenced, and it is up to us to try to have those voices be heard."