FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MEDIA CONTACTS:
Melissa Stek, Communications Consultant, melissa@mountgem.com
Tom Salyers, Director of Communications, tsalyers@clasp.org
Washington, D.C., January 20, 2026—In defense of the safety and well-being of our nation’s children, members of the Children Thrive Action Network (CTAN) are calling on Congress to reject federal budget proposals that include additional funding for Immigration Customs and Enforcement (ICE) to harm families, detain parents, and traumatize children.
One year into President Trump’s second term, communities across the country have experienced firsthand the terrorizing tactics of ICE, which have been felt most acutely by children. Children have witnessed and borne the consequences of federal agents’ raids of schools, child care centers, neighborhoods, and homes—all of which should be safe havens. ICE’s violence and abductions have left children without parents, including the children of Renee Good and dozens of others whose lives have been needlessly taken by ICE activities. In the last year, hundreds of U.S. citizen children have had their parents abducted, jailed, or deported. And in recent weeks, federal agents have escalated their presence and violence in places like Minneapolis, raiding homes with young children inside, abducting entire families, and violently arresting teenagers.
Research repeatedly shows the harms of these actions on children. When children experience distress, their growth and development is undercut, resulting in lasting consequences. Children need their parents and loving caregivers, a safe place to call home, and the ability to safely go to child care, school, medical appointments, and community engagements without government terror or interference. For the sake of our kids, Congress must refuse to give the Department of Homeland Security more money to detain and harm our neighbors, community members, families, and children.
CTAN members issued the following statements:
Wendy Cervantes, Director of Immigration and Immigrant Families at the Center for Law and Social Policy:
“For the last year, we’ve watched in horror as this administration has waged war on children and their families under the guise of a ‘crackdown’ on undocumented immigrants. Armed with a torrent of anti-immigrant policies and Congress’s unprecedented, massive budget for harmful immigration actions, the federal government has brought widespread and irreparable harm to children in immigrant families and those around them. With their day-to-day lives completely upended by the presence of federal agents, even children themselves have risen up to protest and demand ICE leave their schools and communities. Congress must stand with these young people, concerned families, and hundreds of civil and human rights organizations, and refuse to give additional taxpayer dollars to fund the Trump Administration’s terrorizing tactics.”
Andrea Paluso, Co-Director of the Child Care for Every Family Network:
“We call on Congress to reject any further spending for ICE due to the terror and harm it is causing to our communities. Congress should be directing this funding toward our child care system and other essential supports that families need now more than ever before. We need stability, accountability, and permanent solutions to the child care funding crisis—not uncertainty, fear, or politically driven disruptions. With the harms of H.R. 1 rapidly rolling out in states across the nation, Congress must reject additional attempts to silence, harm, and disenfranchise children, families, and caregivers.”
Trudy Taylor Smith, Senior Administrator of Policy and Advocacy, Children’s Defense Fund-Texas:
“Over the past year, ICE’s lawless, state-sponsored violence has traumatized hundreds of children and undermined their well-being by separating them from parents and caregivers, detaining them under horrific conditions, and removing them to countries where their lives are in grave danger. At the same time, millions more children in immigrant and mixed-status families have been cut off from access to the community and resources they need to thrive because the constant fear of kidnappings and disappearances makes it dangerous to go about daily routines, attend school, or seek medical care. All children deserve to grow up in safe communities where they are free to learn and play, surrounded by caring adults who protect their well-being. Congress can and must take responsibility to protect children right now by cutting off funding for ICE’s reign of terror.”
Liza M. Davis, Advocacy Director, Children in Immigrant Families, The Children’s Partnership:
“When violent, overly aggressive immigration agents storm into a community, children often pay the highest price. ICE raids that tear families apart fuel fear, toxic stress, and trauma that disrupt healthy development and can shape outcomes for a lifetime. Parents and caregivers fear seeking health care, sending children to school, or simply leaving their homes. Educators and early childhood education providers are left to absorb and respond to these disruptions and trauma in real time. The Trump Administration is asking Congress for more of our tax money to terrorize our own communities. Congress must act now and refuse to fund policies that harm children, endanger their well-being, and attack the families and caregivers who support them.”
“Recent abusive tactics by immigration authorities have inflicted profound harm on children and families. Decades of child development research show that trauma and chronic stress in early childhood have lifelong consequences for physical health, mental health, and the future well-being of families and communities. Medical and child welfare experts have been clear that there is no safe or acceptable amount of time for children to be held in immigration detention, even when detained with a parent. Yet since the federal government resumed the practice of family detention, thousands of children have been confined in facilities where advocates report unsafe and unsanitary conditions, sleep deprivation, and inadequate medical care. These harms can permanently alter a child’s life trajectory. A true democracy protects children, upholds due process, and refuses to govern through fear. Child care, schools, and houses of worship must be safe and protected. We must keep families together and ensure that policies and practices reflect what we know to be true: children need safety, stability, and care to survive and to flourish.”
Maribel Ramos, Director, Government Relations at the National Women’s Law Center:
“Watching someone you love be forcibly taken away is traumatic at any age—but it is especially devastating for a child. It is egregious that these raids are even occurring at child care centers— spaces that are meant to shelter and care for our youngest. Congress has already provided an unprecedented $170 billion to fund Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant crusade. This excessive amount of funding has already inflicted devastating harms on an entire generation of children, which is why we are urging Congress not to approve a single additional dime to ICE.”
Stephanie Ettinger de Cuba, Executive Director, Children’s HealthWatch:
“As a network of pediatric health care providers, public health researchers, and child health policy experts, we aim to make every decision guided by rigorous science and the well-being of children. ICE enforcement practices—marked by chronic fear, violence, and family separation—run directly counter to what we know is best for children, inflicting lasting harm on their mental and physical health. For those who have already been separated from a parent, or who live in constant fear of them being detained, imagine thinking: ‘When will mom or dad be taken from me?’ Even children whose families are not directly targeted are traumatized, disrupting brain development with long-term negative effects on health. Forced separations and family displacement also destabilize families economically, depriving children of basic human needs—food, shelter, and safety—compounding health harms. Congress must stand up for children and refuse to fund cruelty.”
Xochitl Oseguera, Vice President, MomsRising and MamásConPoder:
“America’s moms are horrified by the increasingly brutal tactics ICE is using to tear apart our communities, and the devastating harm it is causing to children and families. It is especially outrageous that Republican leaders in Congress diverted resources from child care, education, health, food and nutrition, and other necessities to pay for these atrocities. Moms do not want extreme cuts to essential programs in order to pay to separate families, commit human rights abuses, and terrify hardworking immigrants who are essential to our care workforce, our economy and our future. We do not want our child and elder care providers to be harassed and abused. Our nation needs a safe and orderly immigration process that balances compassion and security—not cuts to essential programs and not cruelty.”
Alejandra Vázquez Baur, Co-founder and Director, National Newcomer Network:
“After a year of terror on our immigrant families and neighbors, we are deeply infuriated by ICE’s recent escalations of violence in Minneapolis, resulting in the senseless murder of Renee Nicole Good. Moreover, just a few short blocks over, ICE wielded weapons and physical force against innocent students and staff at Roosevelt High School––the most aggressive ICE attack on a school to date. Violence should never reach these sacred, sensitive spaces, such as schools and child care centers. Not only does this cruel behavior prevent actual learning from happening, but it wholly poisons the learning environment for ALL students—not just for immigrant students. But we know that this isn’t about safety––it is a performance of dominance, and no one is safer for it. This can no longer continue. Congress must refuse any additional funding for immigration enforcement and instead protect the sacred spaces where our children learn and grow.”
Mandi Remington, Founder and Director, Corridor Community Action Network:
“This is not only an immigration issue—it’s a threat to our democracy. If Congress keeps funding ICE, despite escalating violence and a complete lack of accountability, it enables that violence and puts us all at risk. Funding agencies that kill people without oversight is how civil rights disappear, one community at a time. As they debate the budget, Congress must reject any more funding for ICE.”
Linda Spears, President and CEO of the Child Welfare League of America:
“The administration has proclaimed to prioritize the safety, wellbeing and dignity of children in America; yet, the actions of ICE agents in Minnesota and around the country have inflicted trauma upon children everywhere who have witnessed their brutality. For children whose parents have disappeared without warning into ICE custody and are now separated temporarily or permanently from the people they love most, the wounds will endure for a lifetime. Enough is enough. Congress is not helpless in the face of this cruelty and it’s time for our lawmakers to do the right thing: stop funding an agency that is directly harming children and instead invest in the policies and programs that truly promote child safety and family well-being.”
Mel Wilson, Senior Policy Advisor, National Association of Social Workers:
“The National Association of Social Workers is on record as being opposed to the Trump Administration’s mass deportation policy. This policy has resulted in the current unrestrained and unaccountable ICE raids, impacting hundreds of thousands of individuals and families—including school-aged children. We agree with those who point out that this “is not only an immigration issue—it’s a threat to our democracy.” For these reasons, we feel that ICE, with its close to $40 billion annual budget, is grossly overfunded. Having access to such unlimited funds only enables the agency to perpetuate abuses of the civil and human rights of members of the immigrant community. It also leads to increased physical and emotional violence in those communities. It goes without saying that Congress must reject any increases in ICE’s current budget.”
Keri Rodrigues, Co-founder and President, National Parents Union:
“Across this nation, parents are being torn from their homes, their jobs, and even from the school drop-off line. They are being ripped away from their children in moments that should be filled with love, learning, and hope. The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Minneapolis mother Renee Nicole Good by an ICE officer during a federal operation highlights how escalated, militarized tactics are making communities less safe. It has deepened fear in families, schools, and neighborhoods across the country. Families who work hard, pay taxes, and contribute to their communities now live in terror. The very government institutions meant to protect them have betrayed their trust. When a mother is afraid to drive her child to school because ICE could be waiting, something is profoundly wrong. When a father avoids filing his taxes out of fear of deportation, the system has failed. When children cry each morning, afraid their parents won’t be there at pickup, we are witnessing a crisis of childhood. This is not just an immigration issue. It is a crisis of safety, public trust, and moral responsibility. Congress must protect children and families and refuse any additional funding to ICE. No parent should have to choose between feeding their children and keeping them safe. No child should grow up believing that learning and love come at the expense of losing their family.”
“Aggressive immigration enforcement threatens children and families’ mental health and their safety. All families deserve to feel safe living their daily lives in community—such as going to school, getting to work, picking up little ones from child care, and returning safely home. Congress must exercise its power of the purse to better support accountability of federal immigration enforcement.”
