Warren, Alsobrooks, Quigley, 55+ Lawmakers Press HHS on Health Impacts of Violent ICE Raids, Arrests on Children

Warren, Alsobrooks, Quigley, 55+ Lawmakers Press HHS on Health Impacts of Violent ICE Raids, Arrests on Children

"ICE and CBP's… disregard for child welfare undermines the government's core child-protection obligations. Yet your agency does not appear to be taking any action to speak out against or investigate the impacts of the Trump Administration's immigration agenda on children."

Text of Letter (PDF)

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), along with Representative Mike Quigley (D-Ill.), led over 55 colleagues in pressing Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on children's exposure to ICE's escalating violence in American communities, which threatens to leave them with lasting physical and psychological trauma.

"ICE and CBP operations that treat children like collateral damage threaten their physical and mental health and wellbeing… This disregard for child welfare undermines the government's core child-protection obligations," wrote the lawmakers. "Yet your agency does not appear to be taking any action to speak out against or investigate the impacts of the Trump Administration's immigration agenda on children."

Under the Trump administration, children - both U.S. citizens and noncitizens - have been exposed to increasingly violent and intense immigration enforcement operations. After Donald Trump rescinded ICE's sensitive locations policy on Day One, ICE has carried out raids at schools, day care centers - and even a child's birthday party. ICE has also become more violent, employing military-style techniques in communities across the country. Even when children are not the direct target, their exposure to this violence can create lasting trauma.

"(ICE and CBP's) practices have triggered national outrage and risk traumatizing children and depriving them of access to education and basic services, with lasting consequences for their behavioral, physical, academic, and emotional wellbeing," wrote the lawmakers.

Five-year-old Minnesota resident Liam Ramos was detained for more than a week in a Texas facility after reportedly being used as "bait" to capture his father. Liam's father said Liam was not eating well, was sleeping a lot, and was asking about his mother and classmates.

In Massachusetts, a man suffered an apparent seizure while ICE agents attempted to detain his wife as their toddler cried within arm's reach. Witnesses allege agents pushed him, struck him, and pressed on his neck while the child remained trapped between the adults.

In Illinois, ICE agents forcibly detained a day care teacher in front of her students. In another incident, masked agents deployed tear gas near an elementary school in Chicago, sending children running and teachers scrambling for cover. In Texas, ICE agents stormed a five-year-old child's birthday party, where state and federal officers conducted an operation that resulted in the apprehension of 47 people, including nine minors - one of whom was just three years old.

"Children's exposure to traumatic ICE raids occurring in their communities across America can have lasting effects on their long-term health and development, including their behavioral and psychological wellbeing," wrote the lawmakers.

ICE operations are also hurting children's academic and social development. In districts where ICE raids have occurred, schools are reporting declining student attendance and performance; in some schools, nearly half of students have been absent following school-based ICE raids. Early childhood providers have reported attrition from day care, after-school programs, and other community programs that typically serve as spaces for positive socialization, mental health counseling, and other forms of support.

Immigration enforcement actions are also impacting children's access to health care. Most health care workers report significant or moderate decreases in patient visits since January 2025; for the children who do continue to visit the doctor, they reportedly have declining physical and mental health. One doctor observed "abnormal weight gain trajectories" in children not getting exercise outdoors due to "fear of encountering ICE," and another pediatrician reported that "minors (are) constantly crying during their well-child checks, expressing their fear for themselves and their families."

"Given HHS's responsibility for the health and wellbeing of children in the United States, we request any data your department has collected regarding the impact of immigration operations on children's health and development," wrote the lawmakers.

The lawmakers noted HHS's various programs, offices, and agencies that research and provide for children's physical and mental health and wellbeing, and requested that Secretary Kennedy share any information HHS has regarding the impact of ICE and CBP operations on children's mental health and development.

Other signers include: Senators Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.); and Representatives Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Danny Davis (D-Ill.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.), Judy Chu (D-Calif.), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.), Al Green (D-Texas), Becca Balint (D-Vt.), Nanette Barragán (D-Calif.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.), Emily Randall (D-Wash.), Shontel Brown (D-Ohio), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii), André Carson (D-Ind.), Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.), Summer Lee (D-Pa.), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Dina Titus (D-Nev.), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.), Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.), Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.), Adam Smith (D-Wash.), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.), Johnny Olszewski, Jr. (D-Md.), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.), George Latimer (D-N.Y.), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.), Angie Craig (D-Minn.), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), John Garamendi (D-Calif.), Chuy García (D-Ill.), James Walkinshaw (D-Va.), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), and Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.).

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