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It was Halloween last year when an Illinois Head Start director and a few of her team members headed out to the local high school to patrol the area at dismissal. They stuck around the neighborhood well into the evening, worried kids out trick-or-treating would be harassed by federal immigration agents.

That afternoon, agents appeared in front of at least two nearby elementary schools, reportedly waiting for parents to pick up their children, 鈥渁nd at one point they were looking into kindergarten classroom windows and just scaring the living daylights out of the children,鈥� said the director, who asked not to be identified to protect the children she serves. 鈥淭hey have guns, they have rifles. They look scary.鈥�

Helicopters also flew overhead at a circling as kids paraded through the streets in their costumes, according to stories collected from Illinois Head Start families on how the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown in their state last fall affected them.

Earlier on the 31st, the Illinois director said she had gotten word through phone calls and Signal channels that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers had flooded the area, she told 麻豆精品. A family on their way to enroll their young daughter in an early learning center that shares space with her Head Start program was stopped a block or so away at a major intersection. The father was detained in front of his wife and child, she said.

A dozen Head Start associations representing more than 100,000 children across the country, including the one in Illinois, sent a letter to Congress Tuesday demanding that immigration agents be barred from entering Head Start, child care and pre-K classrooms and premises, including parking lots. 

For nearly three decades, that was a largely accepted practice: Immigration enforcement was prohibited in and around schools, hospitals, places of worship and other so-called sensitive locations. 

One of the first things President Donald Trump did at the start of his second term in January 2025 was . Reinstating those constraints is now one of at least meant to rein in ICE enforcement that congressional Democrats say they need in order to support long-term Department of Homeland Security funding and end the partial government shutdown that is

Their conditions were outlined in a signed by the House and Senate Democratic minority leaders, U.S. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries and Sen. Chuck Schumer, and include more widely publicized rules, such as prohibiting agents from covering their faces with masks and mandating visible displays of identification. 

This week鈥檚 entreaty from the Head Start associations echoes those congressional demands. The early learning groups also urged federal lawmakers to ban DHS agents from interfering with school drop-off or pickup at their programs, including at bus stops, citing another incident in Chicago where a father was his two young kids to school. They were left in the back of the car alone.

鈥淎cross the country, children are being harmed by immigration enforcement actions,鈥� the letter reads. 鈥淗ead Start programs report that children are experiencing changes in behavior and exhibiting signs of fear and anxiety. Families are missing work, keeping their children home, and facing housing and food insecurity.鈥�

Last Thursday, Senate Democrats blocked a spending bill , extending the shutdown and demonstrating they remained firm in their demands.

That same day marked a major change in the department鈥檚 increasingly unpopular leadership, with Trump Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. The move followed questions about her handling of department spending as well as mounting criticism around her response to the deadly ICE shootings of two American citizens at protests in Minneapolis earlier this year. 

Trump announced his plan to nominate Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin as her replacement, though his new pick does not seem to signal any planned shift in enforcing the president鈥檚 mass deportation agenda. 

鈥楽afer but not safe鈥�

Policy limiting immigration enforcement near schools, hospitals and churches was formally introduced in the early days of the Clinton administration through a

In the decades since, similar policies have been modified, clarified or codified by presidents from both parties. In 2011, near the end of President Barack Obama鈥檚 first term, his administration formally expanded the policy, which was then further clarified under President Joe Biden in 2021.

Trump鈥檚 January directive marked a significant departure from these largely bipartisan, long-standing rules, including during his own first term, when DHS issued a saying they would continue to follow sensitive location protocol. 

According to a DHS the policy Trump put forth in his second term was instituted to prevent 鈥渃riminal aliens 鈥� including murders [sic] and rapists鈥� from being 鈥渁ble to hide in America鈥檚 schools and churches to avoid arrest.鈥� Some more stringent guardrails have since been reinstated for places of worship, but not for schools or early learning centers.

Providers in Illinois 鈥� and across the country 鈥� argue this scenario only serves to traumatize children and make their educational spaces less safe.

鈥淲e鈥檝e had kids that aren鈥檛 coming anymore because they鈥檙e too afraid to come to school,鈥� said Kelly Neidel, the executive director of a different Head Start agency in Illinois, which also provides wraparound services to families. 鈥淥ur food pantry [has] declined. So these people are making a choice 鈥� to eat or potentially get picked up.鈥�

In April 2025, a number of organizations filed a lawsuit in Oregon, challenging Trump鈥檚 new edict and in September, they were joined by , including staff and parents from a preschool.

In February, the country’s two largest teachers unions filed an , citing an incident in Oregon in which agents smashed in the car window of a father dropping his child off at a day care, as well as students and teachers at Minneapolis鈥檚 Roosevelt High School being assaulted with tear gas in the aftermath of the fatal shooting of Renee Good.

While advocates and providers are hopeful that a forthcoming DHS bill will include a reinstatement of sensitive location protections, some argue it wouldn鈥檛 go far enough. 

The Illinois Head Start director, who went out patrolling on Halloween to protect families and kids, said now that she鈥檚 seen what federal immigration agents are capable of, it would make her feel 鈥渟afer but not safe.鈥�

鈥淚t might deter them from coming, but would it deter all of them?鈥� she asked. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know. I honestly cannot answer that question. I cannot answer confidently that they would not enter even if that order was in place.鈥�

Wendy Cervantes, a director at The Center for Law and Social Policy, is helping to lead the charge on federal legislation, which would codify sensitive location policies into law, significantly strengthening their power.

, introduced in the House in February 2025, would prohibit immigration enforcement actions within 1,000 feet of such places, except in certain extreme circumstances. If an officer violated these rules, any resulting information wouldn鈥檛 be admissible in court and the targeted person could move to terminate any resulting removal proceedings. 

Since early January, the bill has gained 33 co-sponsors in the House and four in the Senate, meaning over two-thirds of the Democratic caucus is officially in support. It has also been endorsed by over across the country. No Republicans have signed on.聽

Some states, including Illinois, have passed their own bills over the past year, but because they have to align with federal policy, they鈥檙e largely aimed at providing guidance and setting protocols for how local entities should address ICE. 

鈥淚t would make a huge difference to have this done at the federal level,鈥� Cervantes said.

鈥楢 horrendous day鈥�

The Illinois director of programs, who funds centers across a metropolitan area in the state, said that from day one of the second Trump administration she felt a significant shift in the federal approach to early childhood learning. In addition to increased ICE enforcement, her Head Start classrooms 鈥� along with thousands of others across the nation 鈥� experienced delays in funding that threatened to shutter them. 

Once their grant came through, she and her colleagues had to wade through the realities of operating under the administration鈥檚 diversity, equity and inclusion ban, which threatened the core of their work, she said.

Things escalated in September after a father of two, was shot and killed during a highly publicized ICE traffic stop in nearby Franklin Park, Illinois. He had just dropped off one of his children at a Head Start classroom.

鈥淲e knew they would eventually be coming our way,鈥� she said, and early learning centers across the region began to prepare. 

That reality hit the morning of Oct. 31 鈥� 鈥渁 horrendous day鈥� she said, which filled her with fear and made her cry tears of anger. 

And the fear has not subsided, she said, for the families she serves, the staff she employs or for herself. As the child of immigrants and a woman of color, she鈥檚 started carrying her passport.

Mirroring steps taken by other early childhood providers in Illinois, images of fake and real warrants have now been posted at the front doors of her centers so staff can differentiate, along with a script of what to say should an ICE agent approach. Head Start Parent Council meetings have moved to Zoom so parents who fear leaving their homes can still remain involved, and centers have organized food drop-offs. 

Programs have installed incident commanders and some have hired security details. Others have their own staff standing guard, but directors fear for their safety too, since many are immigrants themselves.

In November, ICE agents chased one day care worker into the center where she worked in Chicago鈥檚 North Side neighborhood. She was in front of children, and subsequently arrested. She was a week later after a federal judge ruled her arrest was illegal because she wasn’t given a preliminary bond hearing.

Volunteer rapid response teams have formed across Illinois to alert providers of nearby ICE activity. In one incident, they were called to stand guard during a field trip to a children鈥檚 museum where ICE was 鈥渉ot and heavy,鈥� according to Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, the executive director of the Illinois Head Start Association, which advocates for all state providers.

鈥淟ast fall was terrible,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 cried every day.鈥� 

鈥淥ur ask is keep ICE out of Head Start [and] early Head Start classrooms, facilities, our playgrounds, our parking lots and not interfere in our work or our day-to-day,鈥� she added. 鈥淔amilies need safe spaces to send children 鈥� making our facilities safe when ICE is surrounding them is really hard.鈥�

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