Liam Ramos, 5, isn’t the only child in detention. Teachers and parents describe kids being hunted by federal agents.

School leaders are caught in the middle of this, trying to keep providing kids with a safe space to learn as their friends disappear and children cry about not knowing whether their parents will be home when they get off the bus.

Even Zena Stendvik, the superintendent of the Columbia Heights public school district, often patrols outside with parents and staff.

“I stopped wearing my high heels to work,” Stendvik told HuffPost. “I wear my boots to work, because I have had to run out onto a corner or into the back of the high school.”