Adriana Lorenzo, who owns a child care center in Boyle Heights, has banned kids from playing outside after 10 a.m. She heard ICE agents begin banging on doors at that point.
She has canceled field trips to the park and library, placed extra locks to the outside gate, and told anxious parents that she will not allow federal investigators to enter her home. Additionally, she has contingency preparations in case a parent is arrested by federal officials while their child is under her supervision.
In the event that the parents are unable to pick up the ten children, who range in age from six months to twelve years, Lorenzo gathered the emergency contact information of responsible individuals. She will call the backup contacts after waiting for forty-five minutes after the pick-up time. Lorenzo volunteered to keep the kids himself for the mom who claimed she had no one she could trust.
I assured her not to worry. If something were to happen, she said, “I’ll keep the kids safe here until I can get in touch with you or you can get in touch with me, and we’ll go from there.”
She notices concern in the kids’ eyes. The school-age children occasionally gaze at the door as the day draws to a close, anticipating the arrival of their mothers. One of them questioned Lorenzo last week: What if they came to get her? How are we going to proceed?
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The concern has been evident among Los Angeles child care professionals, whose responsibility it is to safeguard the city’s youngest and most vulnerable citizens. They are now dealing with one of the most challenging issues of their professional lives: How will they protect the children in the face of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids? This is on top of concerns for their own safety and the protection of their loved ones.
Fear has permeated almost every aspect of life since ICE started conducting extensive raids across Los Angeles on June 6. Masked federal agents have gathered on Home Depot parking lots, knocked on private residences, swept away street vendors, and arrested people at a swap meet and gas station. This also applies to the sensitive child care sector.
The UC Berkeley Center for the Study of Child Care Employment estimates that immigrants make up around half of in-home child care providers and 25% of the teaching staff at bigger child care centers in Los Angeles.
Lorenzo, a naturalized citizen, always has her passport on her person in case she is stopped.
What happens if I go to the store and they just take me without asking any questions? “I said,” she said. I’m experiencing emotional and even bodily effects from it. As attendance declines and more parents choose to keep their kids at home, she fears about her business.
California
Undocumented families are struggling with how to have important discussions with their children as anxiety over ICE raids grows throughout Los Angeles.
Normally, Zoila Carolina Toma, who operates a family daycare business from her Lakewood home, would have fourteen kids. The phones are quiet now, though, and that number is down to six. The number of calls from potential parents asking about vacancies has decreased.
I’ve never experienced that. “I’ve always been fully capable,” she remarked.
According to Toma, all six of the other children are citizens. For the first time, however, she has requested that their parents present the children’s birth certificates. In case agents stop them on their way to a field trip to the park, pool, or bowling alley this summer, she maintains copies on her phone and locks them in a filing cabinet at home.
Preparing for a knock on the door
Weekly requests to conduct Know Your Rights trainings for child care providers and other small companies in the Los Angeles area are made to Public Counsel, a nonprofit organization that provides free legal aid. Regardless of immigration status, everyone is protected by the constitution from illegal search and seizure, according to Public Counsel lawyer Ritu Mahajan. If immigration officials show up at private child care centers, she tells them not to open the door. Agents can slide a warrant below if they have one.
June 20: Zoila Carolina Toma, not visible, runs a home day care in Lakewood Friday where Jennifer Cortez, a child care helper, plays with the kids.
Zoila Carolina Toma, left, runs a home day care in Lakewood on Friday where five-year-old Samantha Reyes, middle, plays with other kids.
However, we’re witnessing in the headlines and everywhere else that ICE personnel occasionally break the law, which is clearly a big issue, Mahajan added. According to her, some people have been arrested for merely asking for a warrant. Don’t get caught in the midst and be wounded if they’re going to push their way in, but do record what’s happening.
The executive director of Young Horizons Child Development Centers, which operates five sites in Long Beach, Sarah Soriano, stated that she has put signs that read “Private” on each door. Although some situations cannot be anticipated, she has assisted in bringing caregivers from all around the area together to prepare.
“What do you do if they try to take a child?” she asked, but there was no answer. She was questioned by a terrified staff member if she would be arrested or if she should physically hold onto a child if ICE attempted to take them. “They’re succeeding in instilling the absolute terror,” Soriano remarked.
California
Lives around greater Los Angeles have been upended by ongoing federal immigration enforcement activities, including a middle school graduation where family and instructors were left cowering in terror.
In an attempt to keep them out of the spotlight, the organizations and associations that represent childcare centers and providers have been remarkably silent. A number of them refused to be questioned. Even some of the providers have disappeared. A nonprofit organization in California called Vision y Compromiso has been contacting providers to offer support. However, a lot of people no longer answer the phone.
Nannies sleeping at their employers houses
Susan is a Guatemalan immigrant who has worked as a nanny for eighteen years. She owns a car, but lately she has stayed at home on some days because she is afraid to go out.
I have three children as well. Susan said, “I don’t know if I’ll be able to return to them if I go over there.” To protect herself, she asked that her entire name not be revealed.
She disrupted her usual routine when she left for work. When their young charges are playing, nannies usually take them to public parks where they socialize with other nannies.
Children like to go outside and do things like run, go to the park, and take walks. However, she is keeping the 2.5-year-old she looks after at home since going to the park is too risky. Managing all of her energy and telling her that she must remain at home is difficult.
Their go-to park normally packed with nannies and children is empty, she said.
Another nanny in South Pasadena who asked to remain anonymous said she s also been staying home instead of going to the park or library.
I never expected to experience this in this country, she said. It feels like we re animals and they re hunting us.
While Susan s employer has offered paid leave during the raids, many of her friends have not been so lucky, she said.
They are sleeping in their bosses houses from Monday to Friday and going with their families Saturday and Sunday, Susan said. So it s very sad.
Hand in Hand: The Domestic Employers Network, a national nonprofit made up of household employers,recommends offering workers paid leaveright now so that they can shelter at home. If paid leave is not possible, Hand in Hand recommends employers help workers with a safe transportation plan by offering them a ride to work, pay for a taxi, or by accompanying them to a bus stop.
When a parent disappears
Foundation for Early Childhood Education, a Head Start provider with 20 centers in East L.A. that cares for about 500 children, said federal agents have been spotted near several of their centers based at housing projects. Attendance is down across the board. Head Start, a federally funded program, accepts children based on family income and is not required to check for immigration status.
Parents want to keep their kids close. They re afraid to send them anywhere because they ve heard about ICE coming on school campuses, said Jocelyn Tucker, the organization s assistant director.
Teachers some of whom have been at the program for 30 years have also been panicked, she said, especially as rumors swirled recently that ICE was at a Head Start center at El Monte City School District. Luis Bautista, executive director of the Los Angeles County Office of Education Head Start and Early Learning Division, did not confirm the El Monte sighting but said federal agents had been near several Head Start centers close to dismissal time.
Foundation s centers are all equipped with locked entrances, and staffers must buzz visitors into the gate. If ICE comes knocking, Tucker said the teachers know to tell agents to hold on. I m going to call the director.
But last week, Tucker said she received an email with the subject line, ICE picked up a father.
My heart just sank in my stomach. I got nauseous, she said. I felt like this was my child, and I just started crying. It s just so tragic.
The father was sent to a detention facility in Texas, and Head Start has been trying to provide resources to the mother and child, a 4-year-old who was just diagnosed with autism, including grocery assistance and a referral for mental health services.
We just kind of inundate her with support, but her son wants his dad back, said Tucker. You hear about this happening in another country, and you think that would never happen in America. But now it s happening.
Times audience engagement editor Kate Sequeira contributed to thisarticle.
This article is part of The Times early childhood education initiative, focusing on the learning and development of California children from birth to age 5. For more information about the initiative and its philanthropic funders, go tolatimes.com/earlyed.
