A parent readies her child for drop off at Circulo de Amigos Child Care Center on Tuesday, Jan. 14, 2025, in Minneapolis, Minn. (Photo by Ellen Schmidt/Minnesota Reformer)
Two weeks into January, the director of a St. Paul child care center called a family to ask why their daughter had been absent on-and-off since late last year.
“We reached out to just see, ‘Hey, what’s going on? Is your child sick?’” said Angela Clair, whose child care center serves more than 70 children.
The girl’s mother answered the phone.
“ICE is in our neighborhood every single day, and I don’t want to leave the neighborhood to take her to school, because I’m afraid that myself or my husband will be taken,” Clair recalls the mother saying.
Clair called back a week later to check on them, but the family still didn’t feel safe bringing their child to school. The family relies on the Child Care Assistance Program, a federally-funded, state-managed program that subsidizes child care for low-income families. The family would no longer receive the subsidy if the child missed 10 days in a row or more than 25 days of school in a calendar year.
With the girl’s absences creeping towards 25, Clair had to un-enroll her.
“It’s just unfortunate because mom does not want her to not be in school,” Clair said. “But also knows it’s just not safe right now.”
Minnesota is entering the third month of “Operation Metro Surge,” in which thousands of immigration agents are sweeping the state, arresting immigrants — including many who are in the U.S. legally. Agents have shot three people, killing two U.S. citizens, and sparked widespread protests and efforts to track and observe agents’ actions.
Parents and children have been detained on their way to school, prompting several metro-area schools and districts to offer online learning options to vulnerable families. Volunteers — mostly parents — are taking shifts during dropoff and pickup to keep eyes out for ICE.
The absences are impacting early childhood education, too — and have big-picture implications for child care providers, who are often running on low margins already.
“Recent federal activity near child care centers is creating fear and causing disruptions to familiar routines for children and families in Minnesota,” a spokesperson for the state Department of Children, Youth and Families said in a statement. “That fear may result in children being absent from child care for prolonged periods of time, which can negatively impact children’s mental and physical health, while also creating instability for child care providers.”
One un-enrollment means that Clair’s center is out $478 per week in CCAP payments for that child — but rent and labor costs are unchanged, she said.
A spokesperson for the state Department of Children, Youth and Families, which administers CCAP, said it is prohibited by state and federal law from paying providers for any absences beyond 10 consecutive days or 25 in a year.
The CCAP program has also been a target of the Trump administration since conservative influencer Nick Shirley posted since-debunked videos alleging fraud by Somali child care providers. The Trump administration has attempted to cut CCAP funding, but the state says it already has money in the bank to last several months, and the cuts have been delayed by courts.
Monique Stumon, the director of School Readiness Learning Academy in Minneapolis, said four families have opted to keep their kids at home for fear of ICE. In order to hold those spots open in hopes of the children returning soon, she canceled a youth employment program for the semester. The church that houses one of her buildings has waived her already-discounted rent for a few months.
She’s also extended her hours to accommodate staff members who are concerned about being detained going to and from work. ICE has been spotted several times across the street from her center, at an apartment building that is predominantly Somali, Stumon said.
Clair said she had to order safety lockdowns at her center due to nearby ICE activity on back-to-back days last month.
The father of one of Stumon’s students was detained by ICE, only to be released later when they realized he was in the country legally.
That child and others have brought up ICE in class, but Stumon and her employees have decided to redirect the conversation when ICE comes up.
“I’m not saying that’s the right thing to do — it’s just what we chose to do,” Stumon said. “It’s like, let’s let this space be a happy, safe space for them. If their parents want to talk to them, then allow the parents to do that.”
For the first time in her 34 years as an educator, Stumon feels uncomfortable coming into work. She’s thinking about retiring early. She’s a U.S. citizen, but as an African-American woman she still fears violence from immigration agents — like the killing of Alex Pretti on Jan. 24.
“It has always been injustice against people of color,” Stumon said. “So for me, if they’re around here — and I’m just going to say it — if they would kill a white man, I have no chance as a Black woman.”
This story was originally produced by Minnesota Reformer, which is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network which includes Alabama Reflector, and is supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity.
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Author: Madison McVan