Documenting the Impact of Harmful Immigration Policies During the Trump Administration’s Second Term

Between June and December 2025, CLASP researchers conducted interviews and focus groups with 56 immigrant parents who have children ages six and under, and 67 people who provide services to immigrant families with young children, the majority of whom are child care and early care education providers. Through these interviews and focus groups, which involved parents and providers from Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington, a clear picture emerged of just how dangerous the administration’s relentless attacks on immigrants are for individual families, entire communities, job sectors, and local and state economies.

CLASP’s two new reports, “Even the Playground Isn’t Safe: How Immigration Policies are Harming Our Youngest Children” and “Caregiving in Crisis: How Immigration Policies are Undermining Early Care and Education Programs,” offer sharp insights into and put human faces on the damage of these attacks. They also build on CLASP’s numerous reports on the harm of immigration policies during the first Trump Administration, while demonstrating how much more severely immigrant families are feeling the impact of these more punitive and draconian policies.

CLASP’s reports that documented the harm of immigration policies from 2017-2020, “Our Children’s Fear,” “Immigration Policy’s Harmful Impacts on Early Care and Education,” “The Day That ICE Came,” and “How the Trump Administration has Harmed Immigrant Families and Children,” brought human faces to the impact of these actions on children, families, and early care and education programs.

“Even the Playground Isn’t Safe” focuses on the pervasive fear and uncertainty immigrant parents and their young children have been living with since the beginning of Trump’s second term.

“Caregiving in Crisis: How Immigration Policies are Undermining Early Care and Education Programs” looks at the extent to which the Trump Administration’s policies and executive orders have destabilized the early education and child care sector since January 2025, putting providers in a position where they feel like they must do more for their clients with fewer resources than in previous years while also navigating increased burnout and stress.