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By Lulit Shewan

The Southern U.S. has historically had the largest number of Black people in the workforce in the country. This is a region where workplace organizing faces hostile laws and employer power is emboldened. States in the South have some of the lowest rates of union coverage in the country, which means that a sizeable number of Black workers aren’t able to exercise their ability to organize in reprisal of their working conditions.

This issue is both historical and intentional. Low union density in the South is rooted in the ruling class of such states seeking to maintain the longstanding super-exploitation of Black labor following the end of slavery. While chattel slavery bound the enslaved to their masters across all colonies, the South’s agriculture-based economy put a particular premium on free Black labor to build the nation, enforced through extreme violence. This history is inextricably linked to the current state of the South. The same attitudes that harmed both the enslaved and their descendants can be found today in starvation wages, limited economic mobility, poor working conditions, and constrained organizing abilities.

Even as union membership grew in the industrial North, ultimately sparking the Great Migration of Black Southerners in the early- to mid-20th century, Southern powers remained resistant to unionization. Today, only 6 percent of all workers in the region are unionized. That is just one legacy of the region’s resistance; another is legislation that staunchly deters organization and demeans collective bargaining efforts. Such efforts have largely been enforced by the reign of “right-to-work” laws.

All states in the South have right-to-work legislation in effect, meaning that they prohibit union security agreements, which ensure that workers who are not in the union will contribute to the costs of union representation. Proponents of right-to-work laws claim that they protect workers against being forced to join a union, but the largely unspoken and intended effect of such laws are to tilt the balance toward corporations and employers, further rigging the system at the expense of working families.

Arkansas and Florida were the first two states to enact right-to-work laws in the 1940s. Christian Americans, who led the right-to-work campaign in its birthplace of Arkansas, were brazenly racist in their propaganda, warning that if the right to work amendment failed, “white women and white men will be forced into organizations with black African apes… whom they will have to call ‘brother’ or lose their jobs.” It is not coincidental that right-to-work first took root in the Jim Crow South; these laws are just one part of a complex web of calculated efforts to maintain the poverty and exploitation of Black people. The subjugation of the working class and Black communities has always had a place in the region, and those who live at its nexus suffer the most.

While a majority of Americans support unionization, companies continue to push back against organized labor, driving a decline in overall union density and stagnating union growth in the South. The power of these companies is bolstered by anti-worker policymakers aiming to maintain the symbiotic relationship between government and wealth-hoarding corporation entities—a relationship that entirely diminishes the value and self-determination of the Black worker.

Given that the political and legal structures of the South have always been designed to prevent workers from expressing even the most basic forms of power, the collective power built by Black workers within a historically exploited region remains steadfast and inherently undeterred by oppressive administrations and policies. Volkswagen workers in Chattanooga, Tennessee made history in April 2024 when workers voted to unionize with the United Auto Workers (UAW) by a landslide, after tirelessly organizing in one of the states most hostile to unions. Leading up to the vote, anti-worker policymakers such as Governor Bill Lee vehemently spoke out against the UAW’s drive to organize Southern factory workers, in an attempt to dissuade workers from voting. The union won with 73 percent of the vote.

The service sector in the South comprises some of the most challenging workplaces to build labor power, in part due to difficult working conditions and high turnover. This is compounded by employer misinformation about unions and what union organization can offer workers, in support of right-to-work laws.

But the high concentration of Black workers in such industries continues to create a hotbed of collective anger and reprisal, given that this exploitation has history and that racial wage gaps continue to widen as wage inequality grows. In a 2022 study, the Economic Policy Institute found that Black workers have reaped even fewer gains from increased aggregate productivity than white workers. At the forefront of organizing this sector is the newly formed Union of Southern Service Workers (USSW), which found that Black workers make up 41 percent of the employees in South Carolina’s food or beverage, general merchandise, food services, and warehouse and storage jobs, but 27 percent of the state’s workforce. The steadfast organizing drive of the USSW is informed by endless stories of various forms of worker degradation and exploitation.

The Trump Administration wasted no time introducing a slew of anti-union sentiment and legislation. Congressman Joe Wilson (R-SC) reintroduced The National Right to Work Act and Secretary of Labor nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer walked back support for the PRO Act, which would have overturned Republican-backed right-to-work laws. For many Black workers in the South, these efforts hardly present new threats.

“We are building a union despite the fact that the rules are rigged against us as Southern workers. We are building a union by any means necessary and building it in a way that makes sense for us,” says Eric Winston, service worker and USSW member. Dockworkers, food service employees, and entertainment workers are among the organized groups in the South who have organized strikes in the last year, many reaching tentative agreements. These workers are adapting their organizing to modern workplaces, as with the USSW’s solidarity-centered approach of cross-sector organizing at various locations in different industries.

Organized labor requires investment of time and faces incessant obstacles. Black workers have adopted these undertakings since the Jim Crow South and are at the forefront of the fight against misinformation. For them, it is not a choice, but a necessity. The labor renaissance isn’t over, and the organized U.S. South provides the blueprint for the future.

This statement can be attributed to Cemeré James, interim executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) 

Washington, D.C., February 26, 2025 – The hollowing out of the federal workforce by the Trump Administration through mass layoffs is an underhanded strategy to dismantle countless programs that support children, families, people with low incomes, communities of color, and other underserved populations. These actions will also deepen the immense harm created by the administration’s elimination of diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility programs—and make it more difficult for families to access the supports they need.

The cuts to jobs across federal agencies—from the Administration for Children and Families and the Department of Education to the Department of Justice and Department of Housing and Urban Development—are said to be done in the name of cost savings and efficiency. But these cuts are causing chaos, disruption, and inefficiencies. They are directly and immediately impacting the lives and families of the employees who have been laid off but also harming children and families across the country. We are only seeing the beginning of the layoffs’ consequences. These cuts are ultimately efforts to limit access to important programs like child care and housing that support people on a path to economic security.

CLASP is concerned that these federal layoffs will decimate the many programs that support people with low incomes and communities of color, ultimately causing negative effects on our nation’s overall economy. While we are already seeing some of the damage, it’s clear that the long-term consequences will be even more significant and could affect generations to come. That’s why we urge everyone who cares about the well-being of individuals and their families, as well as the nation’s economic health, to demand that members of Congress use their authority to stop the decimation of the programs they established and funded.

 

By Alyssa Fortner and Shira Small  

This year’s Black History Month theme, “African Americans and Labor,” provides an important opportunity to uplift and reflect on the ways Black women have shaped America’s child care system. This reflection is particularly critical one month into a new administration that has demonstrated disregard for the contributions of diverse workforces today and throughout history. To change the future of child care, it is important to understand the past, both to acknowledge how injustice shapes the sector and ensure a fairer and more equitable future for those who sustain and utilize the child care system. 

In the time of chattel slavery, enslaved Black women were forced to take care of white children, while not being allowed to take care of their own. In the post-emancipation period, low-paid domestic work was one of the only industries available to Black women. And throughout the 1900s policy choices and both proposed and enacted laws further marginalized and harmed those in the child care workforce and the families that relied on them. CLASP’s more detailed timeline of this history and impact can be found here. 

Though the U.S. child care system has changed over the course of history, the labor of Black women continues to be underpaid and undervalued. While 18 percent of child care workers are Black, Black people only compose 13 percent of the overall U.S. workforce. Despite their overrepresentation in the child care workforce, Black women earn less on average than their white counterparts in a field that is already woefully underpaid, with the average worker earning $30,370 in 2023. For center-based providers, the wage gap between white and Black workers amounts to an average of more than $8,000 per year. Workers in home-based child care programs, which Black providers operate in higher numbers, earn even less.  

On top of low wages, the workforce’s limited access to health insurance, retirement savings, and other benefits demonstrate the continued devaluation of Black women’s labor, harming the entire sector. Creating an economically sustainable profession that supports the well-being of all providers is not only a necessary step in creating a stronger child care system, but in working to repair the history of exploiting Black women’s work.  

Anti-Black racism, discrimination, and a refusal to chart a new path for child care to disconnect it from its unjust roots keeps child care workers underpaid and keeps care unaffordable. At CLASP, we are committed to helping transform the child care system by outlining its history, changing narratives around the system and workforce, and putting forth policy solutions that support those who have been undervalued or overlooked.  

As too many communities in this country face increasing threats to their economic and personal well-being, CLASP remains steadfast in its mission to advance racial and economic equity—especially in moments when progress and justice feel fragile. We are committed to working at the intersection of advancing equity and improving policy, which are inextricably linked. To that end, below are CLASP resources that center racial equity to expand access to child care and support for the child care workforce. These resources seek to understand the impacts of anti-Blackness and racism in the child care sector, because recognizing injustice is the first step in eradicating it. 

Understanding and Improving Equity in ECE Settings 

Centering Black Families: Equitable Discipline through Improved Data Policies in Child Care 

This report documents the history of inequitable disciplinary practices that disproportionately impact Black children in child care and early education and how data can be used to create meaningful solutions that address the harms.   

Standing With Black Communities by Standing Against White Supremacy in Child Care and Early Education Spaces  

This blog discusses ways in which the legacy of white supremacy in the child care sector can be dismantled. 

Child Care Assistance Landscape: Inequities in Federal and State Eligibility and Access 

This report analyzes variations in eligibility and access to Child Care and Development Block Grant subsidies in 2020, disaggregated by race and ethnicity. 

Advancing Equity for the Child Care Workforce  

The Racist History Behind Why Black Childcare Workers Are Underpaid 

This 2022 op-ed examines the history of black labor in the child care sector and how it underpins the workforce’s severe underpayment.   

Expanding Access to Child Care Assistance: Opportunities in the Child Care and Development Fund  

This report and its fact sheets explain how the child care workforce can be better supported and diversified to provide more culturally responsive child care options for families and provides strategies for states to expand access to care.  

Community Engagement as an Anti-Racist Strategy 

Shaping Equitable Early Childhood Policy: Incorporating Inclusive Community Engagement Frameworks into Expanded Data Strategies  

This report examines how community engagement strategies can help create more equitable policies on the road to dismantling systemic racism. 

Parent and Provider Experience Should Inform Child Care Policy 

CLASP partnered with parent leaders from the United Parent Leaders Action Network in this blog to highlight the importance of community engagement as a tool to advance equity, just as it is a tool for creating effective policy. 

By Kaelin Rapport

Last month, California relied on incarcerated firefighters to prevent and put out fires that ravaged vast swaths of Los Angeles County. The practice of using incarcerated individuals as forced labor has existed for decades and is part of an exploitative prison labor economy that balances state budgets at the cost of Black lives.  

Involuntary Servitude and Punishment  

Carceral firefighting practices can be traced to slavery, as the use of Black labor was integral to fire management strategy, setting a violent precedent of placing the “inferior” on the frontlines of danger. California began using prisons as a source of enslaved labor for public works in the late 19th century when, as now, disproportionately warehoused Black people. Today, Black people account for 5 percent of the state population and yet comprise 28 percent of the state’s prison population. 

That this exploitation persists is due in part to a loophole in the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery “except as a punishment for crime” by removing the constitutional provision allowing jails and prisons to punish those who refuse to work. Last November, California voters failed to pass Proposition 6, which would have closed that loophole. The proposition’s failure was partially due to persistent claims that contemporary work programs like the Conservation (Fire) Camp are voluntary.  

Today, approximately 70 percent of incarcerated individuals are assigned to work, and the overwhelming majority reported feeling forced into jobs like fighting fires. Incarcerated Black laborers are more likely to either receive no pay for their labor or work in positions with lower pay than their white counterparts. This placement can be arbitrary or used as a form of punishment. Incarcerated individuals who refuse face the threat of accruing sanctions, being deprived of the few opportunities available to see family and/or reducing their sentences.  

Roughly 30 percent of the crews that combat California’s wildfires consist of incarcerated laborers, which amounts to over 1,000 incarcerated firefighters. Some are as young as 18 – the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) launched youth programs at the Growlersburg and Pinegrove Conservation Camps in 2023 and 2024.  

The Costs of Cost-Saving   

Programs like the Conservation Camps have received praise for allowing states to save hundreds of millions of dollars by using prison labor to fight fires and provide training for post-incarceration employment. Incarcerated laborers produce over $2 billion in goods and $9 billion in services in the upkeep of carceral facilities. However, this arrangement obfuscates the social costs of mass incarceration while perpetuating racial inequities and damaging local economies.  

State law allows the CDCR to pay half California’s minimum wage of $16/hour. For the highly dangerous and arduous work of clearing areas around wildfires to prevent their spread, incarcerated firefighters receive anywhere between $5.80 and $10.24 a day; an additional $1/hour when responding to emergencies; and two days off their sentence for each day spent fighting fires. These meager wages frequently go toward meeting basic hygienic needs, making phone calls, and buying additional food from the prison commissary. 

Because of their criminalized status, incarcerated laborers are excluded from federal protections under the Fair Labor Standards Act, the National Labor Relations, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. They are also unable to unionize. It is also essential to keep in mind that, in addition to lacking adequate compensation, incarcerated laborers are often fighting wildfires without appropriate medical care or protective equipment.  

As a result, the harm these laborers face from abysmal conditions inside prisons is mirrored in their life-saving work on the outside. Incarcerated firefighters are four times more likely to be physically injured on the job, eight times more likely to sustain an injury from smoke inhalation than professional firefighters, and largely unable to continue this work  after being released. California law bars many with criminal convictions from receiving certification as emergency medical technicians (EMTs), a requirement to become a firefighter in the state.  

Looking Forward  

California is among the 14 states maintaining fire camps that sacrifice incarcerated Black laborers for a public that has historically required their exclusion and exploitation. Being overpoliced, disparately incarcerated, and forced to work for minimal or no pay makes neither Black communities nor anyone else safer.  

The following measures would make necessary strides in de-escalating the systemic violence of coercion Black incarcerated laborers suffer via California’s carceral system and serve as a model for other states to follow:  

By Lulit Shewan

In the United States, the legacy of alternative and temporary work has served to create increasingly unstable jobs that make up a highly visible but often overlooked share of the American workforce. Temporary and staffing agencies are a high-traffic, high-profit industry meant to serve individuals seeking job training for further employment opportunities. These programs largely serve communities of color, low-income Black communities, individuals without postsecondary education, and those who face barriers to “traditional” work. But the temporary staffing industry reveals yet another blatant system of discrimination reminiscent of pre-Civil Rights policies. Temporary staffing agencies create a system of precarious employment that fails to support the work needs of vulnerable groups, while systematically creating vulnerability through poor job conditions, subpar wages, labor exploitation, and racist practices. These agencies are yet another example of how employers and corporations operate at the intersection of profit accumulation and discrimination.

Temp workers are more than twice as likely to be paid poverty wages compared to workers in all industries. These workers are often paid less than their direct-hire counterparts doing the same work. Staffing and temp agencies receive a cut of the hourly fee they charge host employers, which can range from 30 percent to more than 150 percent of the wages the worker receives. Namely, Black women are also overrepresented in occupations that have a disproportionate share of temporary agency workers and are less likely to work in occupations that have a high share of independent contractors or contract workers, as compared to their white counterparts.

An estimated 13 million to 16 million U.S. workers are hired through staffing agencies annually, according to industry estimates. Despite the volume of this industry, U.S. policy poorly enforces the regulation of temp work, and this lack of regulation leaves a wide gap for the largest employers in sectors like warehousing, manufacturing, and increasingly in retail, to use temporary agencies to squeeze more labor from workers. Such poorly regulated programs create new systems of discrimination in poor Black and brown communities, where efficacy and accessibility are deficient.

Among communities of need, employment agencies are also often known to exacerbate the precarity of job programs through misleading information, manipulation, and outright discrimination. The industry is rife with stories of agencies deceiving and often lying about the terms of employment surrounding hours, pay, safety, and the process of temp-to-permanent job trajectory. Many of these agencies operate without a license, send people to jobs that don’t exist, or place them in jobs that don’t pay minimum wage. Oftentimes, these agencies charge a fee to connect individuals to companies with little or poor return. A 2022 NELP study underscoring the systematic manipulation of agencies found that 24 percent of workers reported experiencing wage theft through a staffing agency, in which they were paid less than minimum wage, not paid overtime, or not paid the proper amount for hours they worked. Exaggerating the benefits, salary, or job security of a position is also commonplace across various agencies in several states. Such agencies have also normalized the farcical presentation of temp-to-perm positions, convincing people to work under substandard conditions under the pretense that something better is on the horizon. As of 2022, NELP found that 72 percent of surveyed workers have never been hired into a permanent position from a temp job.

The underbelly of this issue, as is true for all forms of systematic oppression, is racist discrimination. Across various localities and states, a rampant trend of bigotry in hiring serves to further disparage employment opportunities for Black people in need. Many agencies often rely on this discrimination at several points in the recruiting and enlistment process. Stories of this anti-Black discrimination have seen spikes since the inception of the pandemic staffing-agency boom; employers using coded language to request non-Black people for hire, eligibility requirements being illegally skewed, assigning Black applicants to ‘less desirable’ work, or the unmitigated presence of interpersonal racism on the job.

The significant rise of discrimination is a grave concern to the growing temporary workforce that often operates as a lifeline to a very vulnerable workforce, whose threshold for workplace conditions and self-advocacy are greatly skewed due to the precarious nature of this work. Oftentimes, Black workers who attempt to fight back against these discriminatory practices not only fail to see retribution but lose accessibility to this vital work as a whole. It is also important to note that formerly incarcerated individuals are overrepresented in this labor market. These agencies, operating in tandem with employer tax credits, impel workers with criminal records to accept such jobs with low wages and poor working conditions, creating a class of disproportionately Black workers whose desperation employers can exploit.

The poor management and regulation of temporary staffing agencies is yet another facet of a racist workforce system, one that often serves to replicate the poor material conditions that Black laborers, the backbone of this country, have faced since its inception. The truth is clear: these agencies work to serve companies, not workers.

While eliminating barriers in recruitment and hiring and combatting illegal job discrimination are two of six national priorities identified by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, it is glaringly evident that these values are seldom upheld and enforced in the temporary staffing industry.

Content Note: This page contains references to themes that some individuals may find distressing, including suicide and harassment. 

“The slave went free; stood a brief moment in the sun; then moved back again toward slavery.” – W. E. B. Du Bois

By Christian Collins

Black History Month’s national theme for 2025, “African Americans and Labor,” honors the symmetry between the history of Black Americans and the history of American labor. Whether paid or unpaid, voluntary or compulsory, essential or nonessential, Black labor has always been the cornerstone of the United States. The indispensable nature of Black labor has always been requisite to the development and wealth of the United States, to the point that it is valued more than the lives of the Black people performing the work. Chattel slavery of Black people was used to construct the racial capitalism that took the U.S. from British colony to global economic superpower and built the very halls that host our government. Yet within those walls resides a democracy that still views the lost lives of Black laborers as an insignificant inconvenience instead of the echoes of our founding genocidal tragedy.

Much like the current societal inequities that originate from Black people never being equally viewed as “people” by our government and society at large, the current socioeconomic inequities faced by Black workers originate in the fact that Black labor has never been viewed as “labor” but as an entitlement for American society.

Throughout American history, the word “labor” has had multiple definitions depending on the type of work performed and who is doing it. Nowhere is that more evident than in the history of labor performed by Black Americans. The slave trading network was a means in which enslaved Black people were developed into a profitable commodity. Even after chattel slavery was limited by Constitutional amendment from being applicable to all Black people to only those incarcerated by the government, Black lives were never valued as much as their labor. Black labor fueled child care, infrastructure construction, agricultural labor, artistry, and ironwork, among other essential forms of economic gain. The occupational segregation of Black workers to certain professions indicated what professions were undeserving of “fair” compensation or access to benefits, even as their work became more critical to the continued survival and growth of the United States. 

Misalignment between the value placed on Black labor versus on Black workers themselves, and the associated consequences, are still evident in the contemporary U.S.. Roughly half of all Black workers in the Southeast were agricultural wage laborers or domestic workers in the 1930s, leading to their specific exclusion from the labor rights protections administered through President Roosevelt and continued economic discrimination they experience. Black women in the United States were forced into careers as child care providers during slavery and into reconstruction. The occupational segregation of Black women continues to suppress wages of care providers even as the nation experiences a critical shortage of sector workers. Black men are overrepresented in the occupations most likely to be replaced via artificial intelligence (A.I.), such as factory labor and retail, while underrepresented in the occupations least likely to be replaced by A.I., like health and legal professionals. This trend continues a tradition of pursuing economic innovation from technological automation without regard to the human destruction it often causes. 

Black history is defined not just by the leaders who relentlessly pursued racial justice on behalf of Black communities but also by the collective loss of lives in that pursuit, and that is especially prevalent regarding Black labor. The following graphic honors the stories of Black workers who have lost their lives because of how their labor was undervalued. Their lives will live on not just in their families and communities, but also within CLASP as we continue to work toward the elimination of anti-Blackness within the labor force and broader American society.

Click the names below to interact and learn more:

Grant Conrad (1868-1887)

Echol Cole (1938-1968) and Robert Walker (1932-1968)

Adewale Ezekiel Ogunyemi (1979-2021)

Dr. Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey (1974-2024)

The W. E. B. Du Bois quote that opened this blog came from his 1935 book Black Reconstruction in America. In this work, Du Bois argued that the Reconstruction period showcased how the autonomy and contributions of freed Black slaves were essential proof that a multiracial and working class-led democracy was possible in the United States after existing so long as a nation governed by racial hierarchies enforced through the economy and the law. The end of Reconstruction and subsequent violent terror of Jim Crow were in Du Bois’ eyes not a sign that widespread racial justice was impossible, but of the desperation of white supremacy to disrupt “the finest effort to achieve democracy for the working millions which this world had ever seen.”

The most effective weapon against racism, and therefore a governing system that embraces racial capitalism, is solidarity and collective action. Though the individuals highlighted above lost their lives due to the continued undervaluing of Black labor and the lives of Black workers, there are millions of people and communities across the country who hold similar stories of workers lost because society felt entitled only to their “labor,” not a recognition of their humanity. Black History Month is a time to celebrate the historical and current contributions of Black leaders in every aspect of American history, and to use the lessons of our past and present to build solidarity toward a true racially just democracy and economy.

“So often we overlook the work and the significance of those who are not in professional jobs, of those who are not in the so-called big jobs. But let me say to you tonight that whenever you are engaged in work that serves humanity and is for the building of humanity, it has dignity and it has worth.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

If you or someone you know is struggling or in a crisis, help is available. You can call, text, or chat the 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline to reach a trained crisis counselor who can provide support in a mental health, substance use, or suicide crisis

This statement can be attributed to Lorena Roque, interim director of Education, Labor, and Worker Justice at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Washington, D.C. January 30, 2025 –President Trump’s moves this week to fire two members of the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB)’s general counsel, and the NLRB chair–coupled with his plan to shrink the federal workforce through employee buyouts–are an ominous sign, particularly for the enforcement of labor laws, the rights of workers to form unions, and for people of color and women facing discrimination. These political maneuvers are a clear abuse of power and a resounding demonstration of how the Trump Administration plans to strip our nation’s most marginalized workers of their rights and their power to organize.

Agencies such as the Department of Labor (DOL), NLRB, and EEOC that protect workers from discrimination and wage theft are left with an even further shrunken workforce to guard against unscrupulous employers. Notably, people of color and women, who typically earn lower wages than their white male counterparts, are more likely to be subject to discrimination and unfair labor practices. In recent years, the EEOC, DOL, and NLRB issued memoranda of understanding and frequently worked together to collaboratively enforce labor laws with equity in mind.

Taken together, these firings and potential buyouts are a clear strategy to reduce workplace rights by harming the enforcement of labor laws. With the firing of Gwynne Wilcox, chair of the NLRB, the Board now lacks the quorum necessary to issue decisions on appealed unfair labor practices, paving the way for bad-faith employers to stall union contracts and preventing workers from having meaningful access to remedies in instances of retaliation, illegal firing, and union-busting. The administration’s efforts are not limited to terminating Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, but to limiting accessibility to services and protections that workers rightfully deserve.

The first Trump Administration ordered federal agencies to cease all DEI training and banned federal agencies, contractors, and recipients of federal grants from providing employees with training related to race and gender discrimination. This administration has doubled down on anti-racial justice efforts by rolling back the Equal Opportunity Employment Act, which prohibits employment discrimination and calls on federal contractors to take affirmative action to ensure employees are treated equally, “without regard to their race, creed, color, or national origin.”

CLASP stands ready to fight for all people with low incomes. We call on federal and state policymakers to oppose these reckless actions and take steps to slow down and mitigate the harm while also supporting working people. In addition, we call on our partners in the racial equity and democracy advocacy space to join the effort to push back against these harmful attacks, which are an affront to our collective goals to build a more just and equitable country.

 

 

 

 

Updated Feb 14, 2025 by Priya Pandey

Originally published in 2019 by Rebecca Ullrich and updated in February 2022 by Alejandra Londono Gomez

Early childhood programs play an important role in the lives of young children and their families. But in our current political climate, families across the country are questioning whether it’s safe to attend or enroll.

In January 2025, the Trump Administration rescinded the Biden Administration’s guidelines for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection enforcement actions in certain “protected areas.” Immigration enforcement actions had previously been restricted at or near these locations, which include early childhood programs such as licensed child care, preschool, pre-kindergarten, and Head Start programs.

In response, we have updated “A Guide to Creating ‘Safe Space’ Policies for Early Childhood Programs,” which gives practitioners, advocates, and policymakers information and resources to design and implement “safe space” policies that safeguard early childhood programs against immigration enforcement, as well as protect families’ safety and privacy. The guide also includes sample policy text that early childhood providers can adapt for their programs.

Download

This statement can be attributed to Olivia Golden, interim executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Washington, D.C., January 21, 2025 – Today, the Acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Benjamine Huffman issued a press statement regarding a directive published yesterday rescinding the protected areas policy. This policy has been in place in various forms since 2011. It has limited Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol activities in and near hospitals, schools, child care centers, houses of worship, food pantries, homeless and domestic violence shelters, disaster relief efforts, and other places that provide essential services. The directive ends the limitation and allows immigration enforcement agents to carry out actions in such locations constrained only by their interpretation of “common sense.”

This action could have devastating consequences for immigrant families and their children, including U.S. citizen children, deterring them from receiving medical attention, seeking out disaster relief, attending school, and carrying out everyday activities. Without the policy in place, immigration agents will be able to carry out enforcement actions in such places, which our own research has shown can result in arrests near child care programs and schools. Should ICE presence near such locations become more common, the likelihood also increases that children could witness a parent’s detention, arrest, or other encounters with ICE agents. Such exposure can harm children’s mental and physical health and negatively impact their long-term development.

This action may also have serious consequences for the health and well-being of educators and other providers who themselves are immigrants, including 1 in 5 early care and education providers. During the first Trump Administration, these providers reported being overwhelmed by the impact of anti-immigration rhetoric, the constant change in immigration policies, and heightened stress. Providers who were immigrants had additional concerns about their own families’ well-being.

Ending the protected areas policy also has a destabilizing effect on entire communities. Children who witness threats to their classmates, parents, teachers, and care providers may not be able to thrive and meet developmental milestones. Many places that families and children rely on for community and friendship, such as schools, Head Start centers, child care programs, and places of worship, could suddenly become targets, leaving the community as a whole traumatized and paralyzed by the threats of immigration enforcement. Compromising access to these supports in the midst of an onslaught of other immigration policies serves to only further undermine the safety and well-being of immigrant families and communities. And when some of us are not comfortable seeking out health care, we all are less healthy.

CLASP has worked for years to advocate for state and national policies that ensure people are able to access the supports and services they need to thrive. We have also created materials for child care providers, early childhood educators, and schools, no matter the political climate. We urge early childhood providers to consult our resource guide for ways to keep their centers as protected as possible from immigration enforcement, stay informed about their rights, and avoid giving in to the intimidation inherent in these efforts.  We also call on Congress to pass federal legislation to codify the protected areas policy, and we urge state and local policymakers to consider legislation and other policies to restrict immigration enforcement actions in these critical places.

 

 

This statement can be attributed to Olivia Golden, interim executive director of the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP)

Washington, D.C., January 21, 2025 – On Monday night, President Trump rescinded several important immigration-related orders from the Biden Administration and signed a host of executive orders that jeopardize the safety and health of immigrant families and their children, including U.S. citizens, and threaten the economic stability of the entire country.

One order makes an unprecedented attack on the constitutional right to birthright citizenship, specifically targeting babies who don’t have at least one parent who is a legal permanent resident or U.S. citizen and ultimately creating bureaucratic challenges and delays for all families welcoming new babies. The administration’s plans will also drastically expand interior immigration enforcement measures. This includes a mass deportation agenda that prioritizes the majority of undocumented immigrants for deportation; expands detention capacity and enforcement agents; increases collaborations between local law enforcement and federal immigration agencies; denies federal funds to sanctuary jurisdictions; and limits Temporary Protected Status designations, parole authority, and work permits. Yesterday’s orders also include ramped-up border enforcement, such as measures that will militarize our border in an effort to deter asylum seekers from seeking safety.

Taken together, these directives, if fully implemented, will have devastating consequences on immigrants, their children, the communities where they live and work and volunteer, and the nation as a whole. They are clearly part of a strategy to instill fear, marginalize the millions of people affected, and destabilize their communities. We also know the cumulative effect of policies such as these has the most significant impact on children’s development, especially young children. In particular, denying the benefits of citizenship to babies in their earliest days of life can lead to long-term developmental harms and render them stateless.

We are deeply concerned about the potential for these policies to create a chilling effect on children’s participation in school and child care programs; separate even the youngest children from their parents and caregivers; cause financial instability and housing insecurity; and destabilize the workforce, particularly in child care, construction, agriculture, health care, and other sectors that rely on immigrant workers.

These orders are simply an assault on our economy, values, and democracy. And because our rapidly aging nation depends on children and young people in immigrant families for a successful, thriving future, these orders attack the well-being of everyone in the coming years and decades.  Furthermore, gutting the refugee system and shutting the door on asylum-seeking children and families undermines our American legacy as a safe haven.

CLASP stands ready to ensure that immigrants and care providers are informed about their rights and that families can prepare as much as possible and continue to meet their basic needs. We call on federal and state policymakers to oppose these reckless actions and take steps to slow down and mitigate the harm while also supporting children, families, and workers at risk. In addition, we call on our partners in the anti-poverty and children’s advocacy space to join the effort to push back against these harmful attacks, which are an affront to our collective goals to build a more just and equitable country.

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See CLASP’s toolkit for early childhood stakeholders on how to keep their centers safe from immigration enforcement. CLASP also leads the Children Thrive Action Network