Not long after President Trump took office, the staff at CentroN\u00eda bilingual preschool in Washington began rehearsing what to do if Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents came to the door. As ICE became a regular presence in their Latino neighborhood in the summer, teachers stopped taking children to nearby parks, libraries and playgrounds that had once been considered an extension of the classroom. <\/p>\n
And in October, the school scrapped its beloved Hispanic Heritage Month parade, when immigrant parents typically dressed their children in costumes and soccer jerseys from their home countries. ICE officers had begun stopping staff members, all of whom have legal status, and school officials worried about drawing more unwelcome attention.<\/p>\n
In California, where the immigration crackdown began in June, child-care facilities have experienced months of increased absences among students and staff.<\/p>\n
Trump\u2019s push for the largest mass deportation in history has had an outsize effect on the child-care field, which is heavily reliant on immigrants and already strained by a worker shortage. Immigrant child-care workers and preschool teachers, the majority of whom are working and living in the U.S. legally, say they are racked by anxiety over possible encounters with ICE officials. Some have left the field, and others have been forced out by changes to immigration policy.<\/p>\n
At CentroN\u00eda \u2014 and elsewere \u2014 ICE\u2019s presence and the fear it generates have changed how many schools operate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat really dominates all of our decision making,\u201d said Myrna Peralta, the chief executive of CentroN\u00eda.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Edelmira Kitchen, a teaching artist at CentroN\u00eda, poses for a portrait in a classroom on Dec. 9, 2025. The U.S. citizen said she was pulled over by ICE on her way to work in September.<\/p>\n
(Jacquelyn Martin \/ Associated Press)<\/p>\n
The child-care industry depends on immigrants<\/p>\n
Schools and child-care centers were once off limits to ICE officials, in part to keep children out of harm\u2019s way. But those rules were scrapped not long after Trump\u2019s inauguration this year. Instead, ICE officials are urged to exercise \u201ccommon sense.\u201d <\/p>\n
In October, ICE officials arrested a teacher<\/a> inside a Spanish immersion preschool in Chicago. The event left immigrants who work in child care, along with the families who rely on them, frightened and vulnerable.<\/p>\n Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, defended ICE officials\u2019 decision to enter the Chicago preschool. She said one teacher was a passenger in a car that was being pursued by ICE officials. She got out of the car and ran into the preschool, McLaughlin said, emphasizing that the teacher was \u201carrested in the vestibule, not in the school.\u201d The instructor, who had a work permit, was later released. The driver went inside the preschool, where officials arrested him. <\/p>\n About 20% of America\u2019s child-care workers were born outside the United States and one-fifth are Latino. The proportion of immigrants in some places, particularly large cities, is much higher: In the District of Columbia, California and New York, around 40% of the child-care workforce is foreign-born, according to UC Berkeley\u2019s Center for the Study of Child Care Employment.<\/p>\n The American Immigration Council estimated in 2021 that more than three-quarters of immigrants working in early care and education were living and working in the U.S. legally. <\/p>\n There is evidence the toll on the workforce is mounting. Since January, the number of immigrants working in child care has dropped by 39,000, according to a report<\/a> published Wednesday by New America, a left-leaning think tank. This, in turn, has made it more challenging for U.S.-born mothers of children younger than 6 to work. The researchers estimate there are 77,000 fewer of them in the workforce because of the increase in ICE arrests. <\/p>\n (Allen J. Schaben \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/p>\n The effect in California<\/p>\n About 39% of early educators<\/a> in California were born outside the U.S. \u2014 one of the highest concentrations nationwide, according to the UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment. In Los Angeles County<\/a>, 57% of the staff at child-care centers are Latinas, the center found.<\/p>\n At the International Institute of Los Angeles\u2019 preschool programs, the staff and family communities are \u201cextraordinarily stressed,\u201d said President and Chief Executive Cambria Tortorelli. Over the last few moths, student attendance has declined and withdrawals have increased. One family self-deported to Honduras.<\/p>\n In June, all nine of the institute\u2019s preschools canceled the kindergarten graduation ceremony because they \u201cdidn\u2019t want to risk family members who might be caught up.\u201d<\/p>\n Because California was part of the first round of raids, the brunt of enforcement occurred in July and August, said Nina Buthee, executive director of EveryChild California, a membership association for child-care centers.<\/p>\n Samantha Reyes, 5, and child-care assistant Jennifer Cortez at a home day care in Lakewood in June 2025. Cortez says the number of children under her care has decreased as parents opt to keep their children home amid immigration raids. <\/p>\n