A normally reserved child acting out and biting during play time.
A family keeping their son home from daycare for multiple days in a row.
A kid telling another kid that they're going to call ICE and have their parents taken away.
A new survey of early childcare centers across seven states paints a resounding picture of fear of immigration enforcement among families of young children. Nearly 300 parents, staff and directors of Head Start childcare centers were part of the survey.
More than 75% reported impacts to attendance as the Trump administration has ramped up ICE enforcement across American cities, underscoring the concern that families are afraid to leave their homes or are altering their routines out of fear.
Head Start provides free and low-cost childcare to families whose incomes qualify. Nationally, 38% of students in Head Start programs are Hispanic. The program is known for its dual-language classes and offerings that specifically support working families.
"Children are afraid to leave their homes thinking that they won’t see their parents again," the report from Head Start says.
ICE enforcement is leading to stress, anxiety in young children, survey says
The report from Head Start shows that even young children are absorbing the news of immigration raids and violence.
Nearly half of respondents said that children are displaying signs of anxiety, stress and trauma related to immigration actions. One respondent said that a normally bubbly child has become extremely reserved. Another reported a child who has become hyper-vigilant and defensive.
Jennie Mauer is the executive director of the Wisconsin Head Start Association, a nonprofit organization that supports the 39 Head Start grantees and hundreds of Head Start centers in the state.
"A 3-year-old doesn't come in and say 'I'm having a bad day, I'm scared,'" she explains. "Kiddos are biting, kids are throwing stuff, [and] really creating a challenging environment for the classroom and for their peers. Really when a kiddo shows up in his behavior in that way, we know that they're just trying to communicate that they're having a hard time and they just don't have all of the words for it."
The survey covered Head Start facilities in Wisconsin, as well as California, Florida, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Washington, and West Virginia.
Around 52% of program leadership reported at least one instance of ICE activity near their facility within the past year, leading parents to keep their children home from daycare or contact centers about emergency contacts in case they are detained.
Head Start center staff also reported that children were "acting out" ICE enforcement in play scenarios.
In one example, a staff member reported that "I have had four separate instances where white children told Latino children in the classroom that the police were coming to shoot them or that they were going to report them and have them sent away.”
The locations of the respondents was not included in the report, but Mauer says that its findings are likely showing up across the country as kids encounter news of immigration enforcement.
"When I think about both the child who is making those kind of hurtful statements and the children who are on the receiving end, both of them tell me that something is fundamentally not right in our community," she says. "When children feel emboldened to use that kind of language with their peers, and then someone has to hear it, I'm worried about all the kids. It just really, really scares me."
The full report is available online.
Do you have a question about education or how schools work in our area? Submit it here to WUWM education reporter Katherine Kokal.
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