Conducting raids at or near schools and child care centers. Harassing immigrant communities, including immigrant care workers. Holding children in dangerous, unsanitary conditions and detaining their caregivers. Withholding federal child care funds without cause. Forcing terrified children and families into hiding. 

Yesterday, parents, providers, and experts joined a virtual press call organized by MomsRising,  America’s Voice, and the Children Thrive Action Network to discuss how the Trump Administration’s anti-immigrant agenda is causing massive harm to the health, well-being, and education of children across the country. 

Speakers discussed how these reckless human rights abuses are traumatizing children, taking away parents’ access to care, and undermining our ability to raise healthy, secure children—and the need to protect sensitive locations (child care programs, schools, health centers, and places of worship) from immigration operations. 

A recording of the call is available here. 

“Moms want for every child what we want for our own kids: the peace and security that will allow them to learn, grow and thrive. By racially profiling people going about their day-to-day lives, by turning communities into war zones, by hunting nonviolent people, by bringing this cruelty into child care centers, schools, and other sensitive areas, we risk traumatizing an entire generation of children,” said Nina Perez, MomsRising National Campaign Director for Early Learning and Florida State Director. “We know that what ICE is doing is having a devastating impact on the child care sector, which was already struggling before these horrendous attacks on immigrants began. When we commit human rights abuses against child care workers and their communities, we undermine the programs they support and the families that rely on those programs—causing real harm to immigrant families, our workforce, and our economy.”

“The past few months since ICE arrived in Minneapolis have felt brutal and relentless. Every facet of daily life for our children has been impacted; bus stops are either vacant or filled with patrol support, kids are learning from home like they were during the pandemic and their parents are terrified,” said Sarah Quinn, a MomsRising member in Minneapolis. “In the wake of Nick Shirley’s deeply offensive and dishonest viral video, my child’s daycare got so many threatening and harassing phone calls they had to call the police. There are morning and afternoon patrols outside both my children's school and daycare run by parents and neighbors, keeping an eye out not just for ICE activity but also any ‘influencer’ who might harass or try to film the center and our children. Parents are coordinating rides for teachers, who are afraid of being targeted by ICE on public transportation, even though they all have some sort of legal status. None of this is making life easier for families or child care more affordable. It’s doing the opposite.”

“Anti-immigration enforcement is disrupting the lives of children and putting their health and wellbeing at risk,” said Dr. Gabriela Maradiaga Panayotti, MD, FAAP, a pediatrician in Durham, North Carolina. “Children thrive on safe, stable relationships, routine and predictability. As a pediatrician, I can tell you that early childhood experiences shape their future in many ways, for the better or the worse. When these stabilizing forces are threatened or removed, they go into a heightened state of stress. When this prolonged stress response stays in their system without any protective relationships, that is called toxic stress—a physiologic phenomenon that disrupts the brain architecture of young people, impairs their learning and development and can lead to real increased risk of chronic diseases in adults. At the same time, children and families are avoiding potentially lifesaving medical care—or routine care—because they are afraid to leave their homes. Children and families must be allowed to access sensitive locations and school and medical facilities and places of worship without fear.” 

"Over the last 13 months, our children have been feeling firsthand the consequences of the federal government's anti-immigrant, anti-family agenda. While millions of children are losing a parent to deportation, they and millions more are also losing access to health care, food assistance, housing, child care and other critical supports because of the budget reconciliation bill passed last summer,” said Wendy Cervantes, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) Director of Immigration and Immigrant Families. “It doesn’t have to be this way. Our nation has a long history of bipartisan support for ensuring that immigration actions do not unnecessarily harm children. For the sake of our kids, we need ICE and CBP to be defunded and pulled out of our communities. Instead of federal agents terrorizing people, we need investments in health care, child care, and other services that support children and families. We must protect our kids' childhoods and their future."

“The immigration policies of the Trump Administration are causing deep and lasting harm to children and families in every corner of this country, including in my own community in Utah,” said Linda Stone, MomsRising Senior Director, Immigration. “Kids are asking their parents if they will be taken away next. Parents are wondering whether it is safe to take their children to school, to child care, or even to church. That is why we need to rein in ICE and ensure Congress puts in place strong accountability measures, including protecting sensitive locations like schools, child care, faith places, and health care facilities. No parent should have to choose between their child’s education and their family’s safety.”