NEWS: Schiff, Padilla, 40+ Lawmakers Sound Alarm on How Trump’s Immigration Agenda is Hurting Workers and Families’ Child Care Access, Raising Costs

Lawmakers: "The Trump Administration's policies risk eliminating a significant number of trained caregivers from an already strained system, reducing access to care and raising child care costs for American families"

"Rather than making child care more affordable, President Trump has done the opposite by withholding billions of dollars in federal funding from child care providers, and rescinding protections meant to ensure that child care providers can stay afloat"

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senators Adam Schiff and Alex Padilla (both D-Calif.) joined U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Representative Mike Quigley (D-Ill.-05), and over 40 other lawmakers in raising serious concerns about how the Trump Administration's cruel immigration policies are shrinking the child care workforce and driving up costs for American families.

The letter to the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children & Families (ACF) comes amid reports of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity at and around child care facilities and worsening staffing shortages nationwide.

The American economy heavily depends on immigrant workers in the child care sector, making up approximately 20 percent of the U.S. child care workforce and totaling more than 282,000 workers. In parts of Florida, Texas, New York, and California, that share is even higher - nearly 40% in California, which has almost half a million foreign-born early childhood educators. Over 1 million Californian parents - both immigrants and U.S. citizens - depend on reliable access to child care so they can continue working.

"These policies - paired with the Administration's recent moves to slash federal support that made child care more affordable - are an attack on American families," wrote the lawmakers.

Since Trump began his indiscriminate mass deportation campaign in Los Angeles last June, student and staff absences have risen at California child care centers. At the same time, Republican influencers have harassed workers at Somali-run day care centers in San Diego, including at their homes, confronting operators about unsubstantiated claims of alleged fraud.

Over the last year, President Trump has enacted a cruel and aggressive immigration agenda, including eliminating legal immigration pathways, stopping lawful immigration processes, and ramping up indiscriminate ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) raids. Those arrested include critical child care providers taking care of children in their communities.

The Trump Administration's immigration policies have significantly impacted immigrant child care workers and the families whose children they care for. Following the Administration's decision to revoke a longstanding policy protecting "sensitive locations" from ICE and CBP raids, immigration enforcement activities are now occurring at child care facilities, with agents apprehending and detaining employees in front of children and their families. Other child care workers have been stripped of their work permits and forced to leave their jobs.

These actions are pushing providers to leave the child care field, and programs have seen sharp staffing declines. Some estimates say the Administration's immigration agenda could reduce the child care workforce by 15 percent - over half a million workers. This, along with Trump Administration efforts to slash federal support that makes child care more affordable, is an "attack on American families," the lawmakers emphasized.

"Rather than making child care more affordable, President Trump has done the opposite by withholding billions of dollars in federal funding from child care providers, and rescinding protections meant to ensure that child care providers can stay afloat," continued the lawmakers.

"As Members of Congress committed to supporting American families and maintaining an affordable, reliable child care system, we seek to ensure that federal enforcement practices are not unintentionally driving up costs, destabilizing child care programs, or undermining the safe, supportive environments that children need to thrive," added the lawmakers.

The lawmakers requested that, by February 26, 2026, HHS share any information available regarding the impact of immigration operations on child care staffing shortages, including data on staffing shortages, enrollment declines, projected cost increases, and how coordination with DHS on enforcement actions may disrupt federally funded child care programs.

In addition to Schiff, Padilla, Warren, Duckworth, and Quigley, the letter was also signed by Senators Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Andy Kim (D-N.J.), Angus King (I-Maine), Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Patty Murray (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), as well as Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.-03), Becca Balint (D-Vt.-AL), Suzanne Bonamici (D-Ore.-01), Greg Casar (D-Texas-35), Judy Chu (D-Calif.-28), Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.-31), Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.-09), Herb Conaway (D-N.J.-03), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.-04), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.-03), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.-03), Jesús "Chuy" García (D-Ill.-04), Sylvia Garcia (D-Texas-29), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.-51), Bill Keating (D-Mass.-09), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.-08), George Latimer (D-N.Y.-16), Summer Lee (D-Pa.-12), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.-08), Kweisi Mfume (D-Md.-07), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.-03), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.-06), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.-AL), Mark Pocan (D-Wis.-02), Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.-03), Mark Takano (D-Calif.-39), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.-20), Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.-25), and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.-24).

Earlier this month, Schiff and Padilla joined Warren, Alsobrooks, Quigley, and 56 other lawmakers in demanding answers from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. on the impact of children's exposure to ICE and CBP's escalating violence in American communities, which threatens to leave them with lasting physical and psychological trauma.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Assistant Secretary Adams:

We are concerned about how the Trump Administration's immigration agenda is making it more difficult for Americans to find and afford child care. Immigration policy changes - including terminations of Temporary Protected Status (TPS), the elimination of other lawful immigration pathways, and immigration raids in and around child care programs - are driving child care providers out of the workplace, exacerbating child care workforce shortages and high prices. These policies - paired with the Administration's recent moves to slash federal support that made child care more affordable - are an attack on American families. We request information regarding how the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) Administration for Children & Families (ACF) is assessing these workforce impacts and what steps ACF is taking to prevent further disruptions to child care services and to protect families from rising costs and reduced access.

The child care sector depends heavily on immigrant workers. Nationally, immigrants make up approximately 20 percent of the child care workforce - more than 282,000 workers. That share is even higher in some areas, including parts of Florida, Texas, New York, and California - in some cases as high as 70 percent. The vast majority of these workers are immigrants who have lived in the United States with lawful status, playing by the rules, building stable lives, and caring for children every day - yet they now risk losing their ability to work in the United States, as this Administration has abruptly terminated most TPS designations and dramatically limited pathways to lawful immigration and access to corresponding employment authorizations. To date, this Administration has stopped most lawful immigration processing for refugees, asylum seekers, and immigrants from 39 countries. Many others have been arbitrarily stripped of status.

On Day 1 of his presidency, President Trump began ordering the elimination of legal immigration pathways and revoked a long-standing policy that protected areas such as child care facilities and other "sensitive locations" from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids. During his first year back in office, President Trump also ramped up indiscriminate ICE arrests, with over 86 percent of people arrested by ICE lacking any charges or convictions for violent crimes. Some of those arrested have been critical child care providers taking care of children in their communities. For example, a nanny in Wisconsin was reportedly detained by ICE after a routine check-in despite the fact that she is an asylum seeker with no criminal record. Meanwhile, some child care workers have been stripped of their work permits, such as several immigrant teachers working at a preschool in Washington D.C. who lost their work authorizations and were forced to quit.

Alarmingly, some ICE enforcement activities have occurred at child care facilities themselves. In November 2025, federal agents apprehended an employee at a Chicago early-education center. During the drop-off period, a vehicle followed a staff member into the facility's parking lot and federal agents apprehended the employee as children and parents watched. Other providers have reported similar enforcement activity, including child care centers in Minnesota that described worker detentions - with one provider at a Spanish immersion program being detained in the child care center's parking lot - and "visits" from federal agents.

Apparently because of these developments, providers are leaving the child care field, and programs have seen sharp staffing declines and have begun canceling child enrichment activities to minimize time outdoors and avoid attracting ICE's attention.

The Trump Administration's policies risk eliminating a significant number of trained caregivers from an already strained system, reducing access to care and raising child care costs for American families. According to some estimates, the Administration's immigration agenda could reduce the child care workforce by 15 percent - over half a million workers - as the child care sector loses both immigrant and U.S.-born workers. Another study estimates that "a doubling of ICE arrests is associated with a 12 percent reduction in child-care employment" for immigrant women since President Trump took office, and approximately "39,000 fewer foreign-born child care workers." Indeed, economists warn that "deportations and restrictive immigration policies . . . could increase scarcity" in the child care workforce. The Economic Policy Institute warns that this "labor supply shock" would likely raise prices across the economy, as providers are forced to compete for fewer qualified staff. Because child care programs already face high turnover and must meet strict staffing ratios, even modest hiring challenges can force them to scale back or shut down.

Immigration enforcement against child care workers not only impacts the child care sector but also risks second-order effects for American families' employment. When child care is disrupted, many parents must cut work hours or leave the workforce altogether to care for children. One study estimated that, from February to July 2025 alone, the "doubling of ICE arrests led to about 77,000 fewer employed U.S.-born mothers." Already, child care is one of the most burdensome expenses for American families. Nationwide, families spend an average of more than $13,000 each year on child care, and up to almost $30,000 in some states. And even when families can afford child care, these services are in short supply; more than half of parents report waiting months for available slots. Rather than making child care more affordable, President Trump has done the opposite by withholding billions of dollars in federal funding from child care providers, and rescinding protections meant to ensure that child care providers can stay afloat. Now, this Administration's immigration agenda will exacerbate the child care crisis for American families, worsening child care workforce shortages, increasing child care prices, and driving Americans out of the workforce.

As Members of Congress committed to supporting American families and maintaining an affordable, reliable child care system, we seek to ensure that federal enforcement practices are not unintentionally driving up costs, destabilizing child care programs, or undermining the safe, supportive environments that children need to thrive. To better understand these dynamics, we respectfully request that ACF answer the following questions by February 27, 2026:

1. Since January 2025, has ACF collected or analyzed data on child care staffing shortages, including the rate of programs reporting difficulty hiring or retaining early childhood educators?

a. Has ACF assessed how immigration policy changes may be contributing to shortages? Please describe any analyses or other information ACF has provided to DHS regarding how immigration enforcement actions may unintentionally disrupt federally funded child care programs or children's access to care.

b. Please provide any internal projections regarding how ongoing reductions in the child care workforce may affect child care availability, waitlists, program closures, or prices over the next 12-24 months.

2. What steps is HHS taking to assess and mitigate the effects of immigration-related enforcement actions on the safety and stability of early learning environments, and to ensure that such actions do not disrupt children's access to federally funded child care programs?

a. What guidance, if any, has ACF issued to state or local grantees regarding maintaining program stability in communities experiencing sudden workforce disruptions or enrollment declines? Please provide copies of relevant guidance.

We appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

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