Hart Elementary School in Austin on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.Jay Janner/Austin American-StatesmanOver the past two years, Roberto Lopez Falcon built a reputation as a committed and effective teacher at Hart Elementary School in North Austin. In the first weeks of the new school year, parents who had met him appreciated his humor and the encouragement he offered his fifth grade English-as-a-second-language students. The children, parents said, quickly grew fond of him.Then, two weeks into the new school year, Lopez Falcon stopped showing up. He was sick, school staff told the students, and the children passed that along to their parents. But as one week turned into two, and then three, there were no further updates. Students fretted, crying to their parents or asking for answers about their missing teacher. Parents posted messages wishing him good health and a speedy recovery on the classroom portal.Article continues below this ad“The children in your class miss you,” one mother wrote in Spanish. “My son wants to know when you’ll return.”But the usually communicative Lopez Falcon remained silent. He had been taken to a federal immigration detention facility in Karnes County, about 105 miles south of Austin, and had no internet access. The Cuban immigrant, a husband and father, was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a Sept. 3 check-in appointment in San Antonio, the agency confirmed. An ICE official told the American-Statesman on Friday that Lopez Falcon had no known criminal history but held only “conditional status” to be in the country after entering without authorization in 2022. He was arrested at the time and released “without proper vetting,” the official said. The agency said it plans to keep Lopez Falcon detained until his immigration proceedings conclude. Since the summer, arrests of immigrants during check-ins — once considered routine — have become more common. The Trump administration has increasingly sought to detain immigrants without bail while their immigration hearings play out, a process that can take months. That policy has been widely challenged by federal judges, Politico reported, though the administration argues it is necessary to curb unauthorized immigration. Article continues below this adThe news of Lopez Falcon’s arrest has shocked parents who pieced together the real reason for his absence, leaving them with both anxiety and a sense of loss — for a teacher they admired and a school year already in flux.Hart Elementary School in Austin on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.Jay Janner/Austin American-StatesmanThe district’s lack of communication and transparency has also left them perplexed and powerless to help, two parents told the Statesman. As of Friday afternoon, the district had not sent any communication to class parents as to the reason for Lopez Falcon’s absence.Article continues below this adThe Austin school district declined to comment on questions regarding its communications with Lopez Falcon’s students and their families, but spokesperson Cristina Nguyen confirmed to the Statesman that Lopez Falcon remained employed by the district. He was hired full time last year after substitute teaching for a year, she said. Trasell Underwood, vice president of the district’s employee union, Education Austin, said the organization is not aware of any district employee other than Lopez Falcon who has been detained by ICE, but that it is concerned it could start happening to others due to varied immigration statuses. A family member of Lopez Falcon declined to comment for this story. A GoFundMe page launched to raise money for the teacher’s legal fees and to support his family described him as “a loving father, husband, and hardworking provider who has always prioritized his family and contributed to his community.” The page notes the school district honored Lopez Falcon last year with a “Teacher of Promise” award.Article continues below this adHart Elementary School in Austin on Friday, Sept. 26, 2025.Jay Janner/Austin American-StatesmanAs students worry, parents feel powerlessTwo mothers of students in Lopez Falcon’s class this year said they have watched their children’s concern over their missing teacher grow as the weeks go by, with each child crying at times. They are also concerned for their children’s education as they’ve been taught by a combination of substitutes and rotating teachers from other classrooms since Lopez Falcon’s arrest. Both mothers, who found out about the teacher's absence on their own, asked their names not be included out of fear of retaliation from the district. Article continues below this adOne of the mothers said she has avoided telling her daughter the truth because she doesn’t want to be responsible for breaking the news. Still, she said she was skeptical of the school’s decision to tell Lopez Falcon's students that he was sick. That has left her daughter emotionally distraught, she said, and she will eventually have to face the truth.“I know she will cry,” the mother said in Spanish. “And she won’t cry for a day. It will be days of grief because she’s formed an attachment to her teacher.” Sep 27, 2025Latino Communities ReporterEmiliano Tahui Gómez covers Latinos in Austin for the Statesman, including immigration, displacement and culture. He has written about Venezuelan softball leagues, Tejano musicians and the impact of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown. He contributed to the Statesman's 2024 series on the aftermath of the Hays school bus crash that won the EWA's Fred M. Hechinger Grand Prize for Distinguished Education Reporting and the SPJ's Sigma Delta Chi award, which honors the best in newspaper, digital, television and radio journalism.