The fragile childcare system in the United States relies heavily on immigrant workers. Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown could weaken it.
Since 2011, federal guidance has recommended Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents Oppose enforcement in a “sensitive position” Just like hospitals, churches, schools and daycare centers. On his first day in office, Trump Deleted these long-term protectionsmarking a significant change in one term he served as president. Now – Ice Officials Are Accused Increase daily arrest From a few hundred to over 1,500 people, Top immigration agent demoted For those who are not fast enough to deport – daycare centers are the direct target.
Suppression of immigration threatens to subvert foreign-born employees’ industries Up by one fifth Nearly half of the workforce nationwide are in cities such as New York, Los Angeles and San Jose, California. Research estimates led by the New American Economic Think Tank More than 200,000 undocumented immigrants engaged in child care and day care Serve. As a primary employer Phase-out remote work policieswhich intensifies the competition for parenting.
There is already a child care plan 65% higher employee turnover Better than average. Salary helps explain why: As of 2023, the median hourly wage for full-time, full-year child care workers is only $14.60, ranking in the field Tenth Low-Wage Occupation According to an analysis, in nearly 750 jobs across the economy. Trump’s crackdown could make everything worse.
Jessica Brown, an economist at the University of South Carolina, studied the impact of early immigration enforcement on the childcare market. she Analysis of the Security Community ProgramOperating nationwide from 2008 to 2014, it was found that even if immigration enforcement was primarily targeting men, it still undermined female-led child care. The program reduces overall supply of child care workers and centers and reduces enrolment.
Despite claims that immigrants are getting jobs from locally born Americans, locally born workers do not fill the gap when immigrant workers leave the childcare industry. Instead, as costs rise and centers are closed, the number of locally born parenting staff has also decreased.
The situation today can be more destructive.
“The current attack is a deportation threat to women,” Brown said, adding that it will have a greater impact on the child care market at least in the short term than the safe community. “The long-term effect depends on whether this becomes the new norm. More importantly, it’s about perception—even if the raids are reduced, the effects of fear can linger once fear is occupied in the immigrant community.” Among the people most vulnerable to this fear, there are children themselves.
The cascading effect of immigration law enforcement
These creepy effects are not theoretical. Trump’s first term provided insights on the impact these raids have on children and childcare providers. As early as 2017, the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), a national anti-poverty organization, A multi-layer study was initiated About how Trump’s immigration policy affects children under the age of 8. In interviews with employees and families in six states, researchers found that young children were less old and showed concerns about law enforcement.
Early childhood educators report that the new behaviors they describe different from those of children in the past few years (increased aggression, separation anxiety and withdrawal) are disturbing. A preschool director in Georgia described a 5-year-old whose anxiety was so severe that he bit his fingertips until they bleed.
The study found that daycare attendance and enrollment rates were high with family isolation. The program reports that parents bring their young children with older siblings or grandparents instead of formal care, minimizing time at home to avoid law enforcement encounters. As enrollment declines, existing rare profits associated with attendance are cut, and these shifts threaten the financial viability of the centers that the entire community relies on.
The crisis extends directly to provide parenting. Providers and parents reported reluctance to access public benefits such as health insurance and nutrition assistance due to concerns that Medicaid or SNAP information could be shared with immigration officials.
Early childhood staff themselves reported increased racism and xenophobia, anxiety about the families they serve, in some cases individuals. Many providers describe the emotional burden of children whose parents ask them to be deported.
One-third of the United States is in the United States Living with at least one parent who speaks a language other than English At home, these kids achieve Better Academic Outcomes of Bilingual Child Care Programs – Programs that usually rely heavily on immigrant teachers.
Wendy Cervantes, director of immigration and immigration families at CLASP, co-led the study, told Vox that the difficulty of finding child care providers with the right skills to educate bilingual children is often overlooked. “Not many people are trained and they are bilingual,” she said.
How policy makers, advocates and nurseries try to protect families and staff
During the first Trump administration, many child care providers were not even aware that their centers were protected by federal guidance from “sensitive locations,” leading advocates to launch a nationwide campaign to raise awareness of these safeguards. But now, the same advocates are working to help providers understand that guidance is no longer effective, but that they still have constitutional rights.
“They still have the Fourth Amendment right to limit the degree of ice access,” Cervantes said. Immigration agents still need to sign judicial warrants and have the name and address of a specific person to raid the private space. To help providers navigate these changes, CLASP is coordinating resources and plans to conduct a national webinar in late February specifically targeting childcare programs.
The political crusade against immigration may score political points, but on the ground, it established a chain reaction that could be cascading throughout the economy.
Many child care centers are also developing new programs to operate in this environment. Some are removing outdoor signage to avoid paying attention to ice and developing new systems to send warnings to parents. Others are reconsidering their data collection policies to limit questions about inquiries about family immigration status.
“There is a difference between finding something and recording,” said Atenas Burrola Estrada, attorney for the Amika Immigration Rights Center, stressing the importance of a child care center that has planned ahead so that employees know what they need to do if law enforcement comes.
“Nurses can be different, it’s a fear factor, and for a little kid, it can be more traumatic,” she said. “If mom and dad don’t come home, the provider also needs to know who to call so they can avoid the child being custody.”
Some states hope to create new protections through legislation. In California, the bill will Making it harder for Icefield Agents to enter the school Or child care center. Even if the agents meet the entry requirements, they are still allowed to enter areas where children do not exist.
In Congress, Democratic Rep. Adriano Espaillat and Sen. Richard Blumenthal A bill was reintroduced to codify “sensitive positions” Federal guidance. But the legislation is a long-term vision: it failed to pass in 2017, and today’s political landscape has changed, so even many Democrats are now supporting stronger immigration enforcement due to growing focus on border security. Earlier this year, Congress passed Lake Riley Actdemanding mandatory detention of immigrants accused of theft and related crimes – is the broad-based law enforcement type that advocates fear, which can sweep nurseries.
As a politician’s immigration war in the name of protecting American work, its policies have the potential to reveal the system that incorporates millions of Americans, especially mothers, into the workforce. In classrooms across the country, children form bonds with caregivers who helped shape their earliest days, while immigrant teachers create bilingual, multicultural spaces that define modern American childhood. The political crusade against immigration may score political points, but on the ground, it creates a ripple effect that can cascading across the economy – from parents who are forced to cut their hours to businesses that lose productivity to businesses that have no support for children at the most growing age to generation children.
This work was supported by a grant from the Bainum Family Foundation. Vox Media has full discretion over the contents of this report.
