“They are hunting us”: Child care workers in D.C. go underground amid ICE crackdown

This story was originally published by Chabeli Carrazana of The th Meet Chabeli and read more of her reporting on gender politics and approach From her home-based day care in Washington D C Alma peers out the door and down the sidewalks If they re clear and there are no ICE agents out she ll give her coworker an undocumented Latina who lives nearby a call letting her know it s safe to head in for work They have to be careful with the kids too Typically she took the five children she cares for to the library on Wednesdays and out to parks throughout the week but Alma who is also undocumented had to stop doing that in August when President Donald Trump declared a crime crisis in the district Now two of the kids she cares for are being pulled out of the day care The parents stated it was because they weren t going outside Trump has deployed the National Guard and a wave of U S Immigration and Customs Enforcement ICE agents into the district ICE arrests there have increased tenfold The situation has thrust the Latinas who hold up the nation s child care sector into a perpetual state of panic Nationwide about in child care workers are immigrants but in D C it s closer to percent about percent nationally are undocumented Nearly all are women Multiple are missing work and others are risking it because they only can t afford to lose pay providers reported The th All are afraid they ll be next What kind of life is this mentioned Alma whose name The th has changed to protect her identity We are not delinquents we are not bad people we are here to work to backing our family Alma has been running a home-based day care for the past decade She s been in the United States for years working in child care that entire time With two kids being pulled she will have to reduce her staffer s hours as she tries to find children to fill those spots Her four school-age children also depend on her This month she had to write out a signed document detailing what should happen to her kids if she were to be detained Her wish is that they be brought to detention with her I can t imagine my kids here without me she mentioned She explained she understands the president s approach of expelling immigrants with criminal convictions from the country but teachers who are working with kids Who haven t committed any crime By targeting them she declared the administration is destroying entire families The Multicultural Spanish Speaking Providers Association in D C which works with Latina child care providers has seen this panic first hand for the past couple of weeks as more and more Latinas in child care have stopped coming into work The center also helps workers obtain their associate s degree in early childhood training and since the semester started in mid-August plenty of teachers have appealed for classes to be offered virtually so they don t have to show up to campus at night Latinas have flocked to the child care industry for multiple reasons Families seeking care value access to language teaching and Latinas have a lower language barrier to entry announced Blanca Huezo the initiative coordinator at the Multicultural Spanish Speaking Providers Association In general this industry offers them an opportunity for a fresh start professionally in their own language and without leaving behind their custom Huezo explained Related Who s going to take care of your child Parents reel from Trump ICE crackdown Though the number of undocumented child care workers has historically been low new changes from the Trump administration to revoke or reduce legal protections have likely increased it This year the administration has narrowed opportunities for claiming asylum at the edge tried to bar certain groups from obtaining Temporary Protected Status and temporarily paused humanitarian protections for groups of newcomers thrusting more workers into the undocumented category The changes coupled with increased enforcement has fostered fear among Latinx people regardless of immigration status That fear among workers is deepening a staffing emergency in an industry that already couldn t afford additional losses Huezo stated There is a shortage and now even more she mentioned There are numerous centers where nearly percent of teachers are of Hispanic origin Washington D C has been a sanctuary city since where law enforcement cooperation with immigration personnel was broadly prohibited Earlier this year however Mayor Muriel Bowser proposed repealing that law and in mid-August Washington s Metropolitan Police Department Police Chief Pamela Smith gave officers leeway to share information with ICE about individuals they arrested or stopped There was a few peace that living in D C brought more shield Huezo commented Now people don t feel that freedom to walk through the streets Child care centers are also no longer off limits for ICE raids The centers were previously protected under a sensitive locations directive that advised ICE to not conduct enforcement in places like schools and day cares But Trump removed that protection on his first day in office While reports have not yet surfaced of raids in day cares ICE presence near child care care centers including in D C has been published A similar story of fear and surveillance has already played out in Los Angeles where ICE conducted widespread raids earlier in the summer Huezo disclosed her organization has been in touch with child care providers in L A to learn about how they managed those months In the meantime the best the organization can do she mentioned is connect workers with as plenty of tools as viable including legal clinics but the ones that help immigrants are at their maximum caseload The group has put child care workers who are not leaving their homes in touch with an organization called Food Justice DMV that is delivering meals to their doorsteps Prior to last month people who needed food could fill out a form and get it that same week Now the wait time is two to three weeks Huezo commented For those in Maryland and Virginia it s closer to a month Thalia a tutor at a day care noted her coworkers have stopped coming to work It s all the staff talks about during their lunchtime conversations When she rides the Metro into work she looks over her shoulder for the ICE agents their faces covered who are often at the exits They are hunting us she explained Thalia whose name has been changed because she is undocumented has been living in the United States for nine years and working in child care that entire time Like her multiple of the Latina teachers she works with have earned certifications and degrees in early childhood development We are working we are cooperating paying taxes she explained We are there all day so other families can benefit from the child care As a single mother Thalia has also had to consider what would happen to her three children if she was detained This past month she retained a lawyer who could help them with their development in situation anything were to happen Her school-age kids know Call the lawyer if mom is detained and get tickets to Guatemala to meet her there This is what she lives with every day now The fear of leaving your family and letting them know If I don t return it s not because I am abandoning you Read more about this topic Trump is invading Chicago just like he promised MAGA immigrant loyalist detained under policies he cheered Florida desensitized my family to cruel and unique punishment The post They are hunting us Child care workers in D C go underground amid ICE crackdown appeared first on Salon com