蜜桃影视

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Children and staff at Second Street Youth Center in Plainfield, New Jersey, are well-acquainted with lockdown drills in the event of a fire or an active shooter. 

More recently, though, the preschool decided to establish protocols for another kind of emergency: the presence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the area. 

Ever since the start of the second Trump administration, when immigration enforcement activity across the country intensified, staff and families have experienced extreme stress and anxiety about the possibility of masked agents apprehending children at their own schools, said Leah Cates, executive director of Second Street Youth Center. (Previously, education settings like Second Street would鈥檝e been protected from immigration raids under the so-called sensitive locations policy, but the administration that designation in January 2025.)  

Cates is glad she put that new lockdown protocol in place, she said, because they鈥檝e had to activate it twice already. 

One of those times, a teacher heard a young boy at the school yell, 鈥淧istola! Pistola!鈥� 鈥� Spanish for 鈥済un鈥� 鈥� after he saw, through a window, an ICE agent with his weapon drawn, trying to detain someone on the street right outside the school.

鈥淲e had to pull our children off the playground, bring them in and immediately go into lockdown,鈥� Cates said. 

Some children go on walks in the community with teachers throughout the day, she added. During lockdowns, the staff use radios to communicate about the presence of ICE and determine whether groups on walks should return to the school or go to a nearby church or the fire department to seek immediate shelter. 

Their fears are not unfounded. So far, five of the 210 children enrolled in the state-funded preschool, which serves ages 3 to 5, have experienced a parent or primary caregiver detained by ICE, said Cates, who is keeping track of the impact on her school community. Many other students have relatives who have been detained, deported or otherwise apprehended by the federal agents. More than 80% of the students are from immigrant families, she added, and most are from South and Central American countries. 

Second Street offers just one example of the terror echoing through homes and early childhood programs across the country, in red and blue states, in rural and urban communities, and in documented and undocumented families. 

Researchers at the Center for Law and Social Policy, a national, anti-poverty nonprofit, have been examining the impact this administration鈥檚 immigration agenda is having on young children and their caregivers.

鈥淐are providers are not feeling secure. Parents are struggling to feel safe themselves. Children are internalizing these stressors and these pressures.鈥�

Kaelin Rapport, CLASP

Between June and December 2025, CLASP staff held focus groups with 56 鈥渁t-risk鈥� immigrant parents and primary caregivers of 74 children ages 6 and under. They also interviewed nearly 70 individuals who provide services to these families 鈥� many of them as early care and education providers, but also some home visitors, health care workers and others. Their findings, which anonymize the participants, are detailed in a pair of reports 鈥� centered on the experiences of young children and their immigrant families, and focused on early care and education providers in their communities.

The interviews were conducted in seven states: Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas and Washington. In those states, immigrant families with young children range from 13% of the population in Michigan to 41% in New Jersey, according to from the Urban Institute, which combines from 2022 and 2023. Nationally, about 24% of children ages 5 and under have at least one immigrant parent. 

What emerged from the research is a clear picture of communities that are experiencing toxic stress and trauma, said Kaelin Rapport, policy analyst at CLASP and an author of both reports. 

鈥淧eople are really scared, and they鈥檙e struggling immensely,鈥� Rapport said. 鈥淐are providers are not feeling secure. Parents are struggling to feel safe themselves. Children are internalizing these stressors and these pressures.鈥�

The concern that many immigrant adults feel, Rapport added, is preventing some of them from leaving their homes, whether it鈥檚 to go to the grocery store or to work. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 confining the entire family inside this emotional pressure cooker,鈥� Rapport said.

Many parents attempt to shield their young children by avoiding conversations about immigration enforcement, yet their fears and anxieties still permeate the household.

鈥淚t was very clear that children are feeling the trickle-down effects of stress,鈥� said Suma Setty, senior policy analyst for immigration and immigrant families at CLASP and an author of the two reports. 

During an interview, the director of a child care center near Dallas shared with Setty that, before 2025, children in the program used to be so curious about visitors who came to the center. Now, when they see new faces, they hide behind the teachers鈥� legs. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 been a marked change she has observed,鈥� Setty said. 

Cates, who was interviewed for the CLASP reports and shared details about the experiences of her preschool community with 蜜桃影视, has seen the way information about immigration enforcement reaches children at Second Street 鈥� and how they respond. 

It鈥檚 a regular practice at the preschool for staff to ask children how they鈥檙e feeling each day, she shared. One day, a little girl said she was scared. Her teacher told her she is safe at Second Street. But the girl said, 鈥淣o, ICE can get me,鈥� then started to cry, Cates recalled. 

鈥淭he child knows,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey may not understand everything, but they know someone was taken in their families. They see the upset of parents, the upset of family members.鈥�

Then, she added, they take what they learned and tell their friends. Cates and other staff have overheard children talking about ICE on the playground, she said. 

鈥淲e think we鈥檙e doing a great job of shielding children, but little children have big ears. They put their listening ears on, and they hear everything,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not doing as good a job as we think. Those 3-, 4- and 5-year-olds are hearing, and being affected by, the trauma.鈥�

In interviews for the CLASP report, Rapport said, several families and early care and education providers described children as 鈥渃lingy鈥� now. Some children who had been sleeping independently through the night are now insisting on sleeping in bed with their parents. Others, he heard, are less friendly, more emotionally reactive, more frightened of strangers and less adaptable to changes in routine. 

As for the caregiving staff he interviewed, Rapport said a word that comes to mind to describe their predicament is 鈥渄esperation.鈥� They are stressed and traumatized from the past 15 months too. They鈥檙e also depressed, burned out and dealing with compassion fatigue. 

鈥淧eople who work in child care and early education do it because they love children and want children to succeed in life. They want children to have a healthy upbringing,鈥� Rapport said. 鈥淭hey pour so much of themselves into that work. They鈥檙e pouring from that well, and sometimes that well runs dry 鈥� for themselves and their families.鈥�

Most early care and education providers are underpaid, working in under-resourced programs, and in some cases are immigrants themselves or have immigrant family members to think of, the researchers said. Yet, as they write in the report focused on providers, 鈥淓CE service providers are being asked to do more than the work that they trained for; they are asked to be immigration law experts, administrative law experts, second parents, and even work for free.鈥�

That certainly rings true at Second Street Youth Center. 

In addition to the new lockdown protocols, the preschool has made changes to other procedures. 

The program has implemented 鈥渧ery stringent rules鈥� around access into the building. 鈥淚f we don鈥檛 recognize who you are, we aren鈥檛 letting you into the first doorway,鈥� Cates said. The maintenance staff, as part of their duties, now regularly walk a two-block radius around the building to scan for ICE activity. Families know to text school staff about any ICE activity they鈥檝e seen or heard about in the area, and staff then distribute the message to all families so they can make alternative pick-up arrangements for their children. 

On top of that, Second Street has held events to educate parents about their rights. The school partnered with an immigration attorney who volunteered to help families make a plan for their children in the event something happens to them. 

The work is taking a toll on staff, she said, noting that staff are increasingly asking for a day off here and there because 鈥渋t鈥檚 just all too much.鈥� 

鈥淏ut my staff 鈥� understand the No. 1 concern is the health, safety and well-being of children,鈥� Cates emphasized. 鈥淏efore we do anything else, our job is to keep children safe.鈥�

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