When Donald Trump became president in January, CentroNía bilingual preschool, located in a historically Latino neighborhood, began preparing for the possibility of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) raids. Teachers started rehearsing what to do if officials came to the door. As ICE became a common presence in their community, educators stopped taking children to nearby parks, libraries, and playgrounds, once seen as an extension of the classroom.
By October, CentroNía had to scrap its beloved Hispanic Heritage Month parade, where immigrant parents would dress their children in colorful costumes and soccer jerseys from their home countries. ICE had started stopping teachers, all of whom had legal status, and school leaders feared drawing more unwanted attention.
This occurred before the widely publicized ICE arrest of a teacher at a Spanish immersion preschool in Chicago that same month, further intensifying fears among child care workers and the families who rely on them. Trump’s push for mass deportation has hit the child care sector hard, as it is heavily reliant on immigrant workers. With a shortage of workers already in place, the anxiety over potential ICE encounters has led many workers to leave the field or be pushed out by changes in immigration policy. reported the Washington Post.
At CentroNía, CEO Myrna Peralta emphasized that all staff must have legal status and work authorization. However, the constant presence of ICE officials has dramatically altered how the school operates. “That really dominates all of our decision-making,” Peralta said.
Instead of taking children on outdoor walks, staff now push them in strollers through the hallways. The school also converted a classroom into a miniature library after canceling a partnership with a local library.
Under previous administrations, schools and child care centers were considered safe spaces, off-limits to ICE officials to protect children. But soon after Trump’s inauguration, those rules were scrapped, and ICE was urged to exercise “common sense” when deciding where to act.
Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, defended ICE’s actions in Chicago, saying that the teacher arrested was in a car being pursued by ICE agents. After exiting the car, she ran into the preschool, where ICE arrested her in the vestibule, not inside the school. The driver was also arrested inside the preschool.
Immigrants make up about 20% of America’s child care workforce, and in places like Washington D.C., California, and New York, that number can rise to 40%. Immigrants often have higher levels of education than U.S. citizens and are crucial to meeting the demand for Spanish-language preschools, such as CentroNía.
In 2021, the American Immigration Council estimated that more than 75% of immigrants working in early care and education are legally living and working in the U.S. Preschools like CentroNía perform thorough background checks to ensure employees have work authorization.
But the Trump administration’s actions, such as stripping legal status from hundreds of thousands of immigrants, have disrupted many immigrant workers’ lives. Immigrants who fled violence, poverty, or natural disasters and were granted Temporary Protected Status (TPS) have been affected by the cancellation of TPS programs, forcing many out of their jobs and homes. Just last month, 300,000 Venezuelan immigrants lost their protected status.
At CentroNía, two employees were lost when they lost their TPS, and a teacher from Nicaragua left on his own. Meanwhile, Tierra Encantada, a network of Spanish immersion preschools, had to replace a dozen teachers who lost their TPS.
One CentroNía staff member was detained by ICE while walking down the street, held for hours without being able to contact colleagues. Another teacher, Edelmira Kitchen, was pulled over by ICE on her way to work. Though Kitchen, a U.S. citizen from the Dominican Republic, refused to comply with questioning, she was eventually allowed to go.
The heightened presence of ICE in the community has also taken a mental toll on staff. Some teachers have had panic attacks during the school day. When the city sent mental health consultants to help, they worked with teachers, not students, worried that their anxiety might affect the children.
“If the teachers aren’t good, the kids won’t be good either,” said Joangelee Hernández-Figueroa, the school’s site director.
It’s not just the adults who are feeling the pressure. At Guidepost Montessori School in Portland, Oregon, a July ICE incident near the school left preschoolers visibly affected. After ICE arrested a father in the school parking lot, the school went into lockdown. Teachers noticed increased outbursts and anxiety among the children in the weeks following the event.
Amy Lomanto, the head of the school, said the incident showed that even wealthy communities aren’t immune to this kind of trauma. “That level of fear now is permeating a lot more throughout our society,” she said.