Leading in the emotional landscape of the U.S.–Mexico border: principals’ emotional labor, moral care work, and the recalibration of passion

Principals serving high-trauma communities routinely manage student crises, family instability, and staff needs while sustaining a sense of safety and stability for the broader school community. In schools near the U.S.–Mexico border, these demands intensify as leaders navigate transborder living arrangements, immigration enforcement fears, and resource instability. This study used a hermeneutic phenomenological design to examine how principals working in a border region make meaning of their emotional responses to student trauma, how those responses relate to burnout, and how passion may mitigate emotional strain. Three semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven TK–12 public and charter school principals. Analysis combined deductive and inductive coding in NVivo and was guided by the hermeneutic circle. We make three important contributions to scholarship. First, the border functioned not as the cause of trauma, but as an emotional landscape that intensified trauma’s complexity and shaped how principals carried the weight of their work. Second, leaders’ exhaustion stemmed from what participants often framed as moral care work – a demanding, relational process balancing empathy, responsibility, and self-regulation. Third, passion functioned as a protective force that principals recalibrated over time – from obsessive toward harmonious forms – helping sustain them against burnout. Implications for practice are discussed.