aMaggie, a lawyer before moving from Mexico 10 years ago, has seen the rapid impact of immigration-related executive orders from Donald Trump.
Five of the 12 children have been enrolled in her care.
Through an interpreter, Maggie said her parents left her young children with older siblings and grandparents in place with her. (The Hechinger report does not use the full names of some of the people interviewed for this article because they are afraid of safety.)
“My parents said, ‘I’m just waiting for things to settle,'” Maggie said.
One of Trump’s executive orders was signed shortly after he took office and concluded the restrictions on dissolution in which our immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) maintained raid schools and child care programs. As a result, America’s strict new immigration policies are hitting some of its youngest and some of the people who care for them.
According to the Center for Law and Social Policy, in four children under the age of six there is at least one foreign-born parent. Childcare providers say many of these parents are now afraid of deportation. The majority (96%) of these children in immigrants are American citizens.
It’s not just children from childcare programs across the country that haven’t appeared. Damaris Alvarado Rodriguez closed classrooms at one of Philadelphia’s nursery nine days after Trump’s executive order was signed.
Despite having a green card, the teacher in that classroom serves a one-year-old child, but was so nervous that he couldn’t come to work. Since Trump took office, his officials have targeted Philadelphia and other so-called sanctuary cities that limit cooperation on immigration enforcement. Immigration agents are constantly present in the neighborhood that houses three centres in Alvaradorodriguez.
“I’m really scared of how this will affect our children, our families and our staff,” she said.
ICE did not respond to multiple requests for comments.
In the United States, one in five childcare workers are immigrants. In big cities like New York, immigrants make up more than 40% of the childcare workforce (and the majority of the city’s 14,000 nannies). In Los Angeles, it’s almost 50%.
“In the care economy, immigration is the backbone of this job,” says Erica Phillips, executive director of the National Association of Family Childcare. These early educators are “dedicated to providing one of the most important and impactful services to young children across the country.”
Experts say Trump’s executive orders threaten the backbone. Among other changes, the order expands rules that allow immigrants to deport quickly, without hearing. Requires non-citizens to register and submit fingerprints. Restrict work permits.
This situation feels more disastrous than in the past few years, some childcare workers said. The current administration sets daily quotas for immigrant arrests, and arrests more migrants every day than the average under the Biden administration. That includes many people with no criminal history that were not targeted for enforcement under former President Joe Biden.
America cannot afford to lose childcare staff. Many programs already struggle with chronic falls, which can create instability in the lives of the children they care for. Low wages – the average childcare worker earns $13.22 per hour – making recruiting staff difficult. Caregivers often lack profits and can do more work in fast food and retail roles. The pandemic has taken away the workforce and slowed recovery.
“We’re already starting from a place where we don’t have enough childcare, the program is struggling and the workforce is already experiencing incredible stress,” says the executive director of the University of California’s Center for Childcare and Employment Research. , says Lee Austin. Berkeley. “We can only hope that this will further devastate the entire early care and education ecosystem.”
Some workers face certain risks. An estimated 142,000 undocumented immigrants work as nannies and personal care or home health aides across the country, according to a study by the Center for Progress.
In Northern California, 27-year-old Adriana, who moved from Mexico two years ago, said she wanted to start a job and was recently offered a job at a large corporation. But first she needs to find a 3 month old childcare, and she is worried that she will be separated from the baby by immigrant staff. “I’m scared, especially because they sound like they can enter my workplace,” she said through an interpreter. “I’m worried about leaving my child alone.”
Chris Herbst, an associate professor at Arizona State University who studied child-rearing impacts between 2008 and 2014, said immigration policies could have a calm impact on communities and visibility into law enforcement You can avoid immigration away from jobs that may increase. “The impact is instantaneous,” he added, as the American childcare system is so dependent on immigrant jobs.
In Albuquerque, Ana directs a childcare program that serves 50 local families. Most of them are American citizens. Anna left Mexico in 2020 with her husband and young son. Such concerns are shared by her staff. Three of her 14 staff members stopped coming to work for fear of an immigrant attack.
Recently, Anna and her husband gathered some belongings in case they were taken into custody. To prepare, they are also considering notarizing documents to grant custody of three-year-olds and other 8-year-olds who are American citizens. “What motivates us is to improve our family situation, live in a better place and increase opportunities for our children,” she said. “I hope (immigration officers) don’t go out after criminals and that good people don’t try to chase or chase after people who work.”
Elida Cruz runs a childcare program in Central California, serving children of migrant workers. To some parents, she said the fear was obvious. She and her husband are now delivering food, traveling back and forth for children to and from childcare programs, allowing parents to limit their time away from home. Her husband developed a codeword with one family. He said it three times so his parents know it’s safe to open the door.
Cruz, like many other childcare workers, shares resources with immigrant families and hands out “red cards” to advise people what to do if immigrants approach them. I’m trying to educate you about your rights. In addition to worrying about the impact on families and children, she is worried about what will happen if those families leave. “Financially, it’s going to be a devastation for my business,” she said. “I literally close. Even if I don’t have a client, I don’t have any kids at all,” she added. “Our business is just going to collapse because we all rely on field workers.”
It may be a matter of time: even the young child caring for her seems to know that things can change at any time. “It’s heartbreaking to see children’s tiny faces scare,” she said. One child asked if an immigration officer would come to her centre.
Cruz told him the only thing she could think of, despite her knowing it was a white lie.
“Do I know why they don’t come here? … They don’t even have our address, so they don’t know we’re here, Mijo.”
Camilla Forte contributed report
This story about Trump’s deportation was created by Hekinger Report, a nonprofit, independent news organization focusing on education inequality and innovation. Sign up for Hechinger Newsletter.
