ICE Arrests Are Forcing American Moms Out of the Workforce

Across the country, immigration enforcement is pushing families into crisis in many ways — including by reducing the number of available child care workers and leaving parents without reliable care. A new report from the Better Life Lab at New America finds that increased ICE arrests under the Trump administration are shrinking the child care workforce and contributing to more American moms leaving their jobs. 

Immigrants make up roughly one in five child care workers nationwide, and as enforcement has intensified, many caregivers have stopped showing up to work out of fear. Those fears were heightened in November, when a day care worker was arrested inside a Chicago day care as children watched, drawing national attention to the reach of immigration enforcement into child care centers. The resulting disruptions have not only created instability for the workers, but also for parents — especially mothers — who depend on consistent child care to remain in the workforce.

Since January, researchers estimate there are roughly 39,000 fewer foreign-born child care workers in the United States. At the same time, 77,000 American mothers of preschool-aged children have left the workforce. The report links these trends directly to ICE arrests, which more than tripled between December 2024 and June 2025. 

The disruptions are not limited to immigrant workers. Even U.S.-born caregivers, particularly Hispanic and Mexican American workers, have reduced their participation in formal child care settings. Some are moving into private households as nannies or babysitters, where pay is often under the table and jobs are unregulated. These shifts reduce the total number of available spots at licensed child care centers and home-based programs, leaving parents scrambling to find care.

“It’s not surprising that we find that disruptions to the child care market [through] an increase in immigration enforcement has led to a decline in the number of foreign-born workers, and because of the disruptions in the child care market, this has led to spillovers in the labor market for mothers with kids,” said Chris M. Herbst, a professor of public policy at Arizona State University and co-author of the report. When workers stop showing up out of fear, it doesn’t just affect them — it affects the families who rely on those services.

This is not the first time researchers have observed these patterns. Between 2008 and 2013, a federal program aimed at verifying the immigration status of people arrested by local police similarly reduced the foreign-born child care workforce and decreased employment among American mothers with young children. Today, the stakes are higher: Congress has allocated $170 billion over the next four years for immigration enforcement, suggesting these disruptions could continue or worsen.

Behind every statistic is a mother forced to leave her job, a child losing a trusted caregiver, and families struggling to piece together care. “Parents, mothers in particular, rely on having stable child care available in order to work. And when you increase instability in the child care market… by ramping up immigration enforcement, you’re scaring the heck out of a lot of workers who are no longer going to show up,” Herbst said. “Because of that, the nation’s ability to provide child care services has declined. Families can no longer find the needed child care to go to work, and as a result, there are fewer mothers employed.”