CLASP’s Kaelin Rapport and Suma Setty were invited to publish this blog as part of the Foundation for Child Development’s Spark series curated by Vivian Tseng, FCD President and CEO, and Hirokazu Yoshikawa, University Professor, Department of Applied Psychology, NYU Steinhardt.

Excerpt:

Since January 2025, 6,200 children have seen the inside of an immigration detention center, at least 79 children have been teargassed or pepper sprayed during ICE operations, and over 200,000 children are estimated to have had a parent detained in immigration detention. While these numbers are shocking, we knew that we would have to document this harm from the perspective of those directly impacted. A 2018 report released by our colleagues at the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) on the impact of immigration operations on immigrant families with young children during the first Trump administration served as a warning for what was to come.

This time around, new research revealed the emotional and economic toll of immigration actions on immigrant families with young children and the people who serve them. It proves how policy isn’t some distant process that happens in echo-chambers in Washington, D.C., but seen and felt on the ground by families with young children, pregnant people, and community advocates. Despite the challenges, however, they are persevering and doubling down on their commitment to their families and communities.

Read the full blog here.