Childhoods in fear: the other face of Children’s Day

By Linda Stone*

Apr 30, 2026, 12:37 PM EDT

This week, thousands of families will celebrate Children’s Day, a day to honor childhood and remember that all children deserve to grow up with love and protection. However, for thousands of children in this country, this celebration is marked by the constant threat of being separated from their parents due to the immigration policies of President Trump’s administration.

So, while some children open gifts, others learn to memorize phone numbers “just in case.” While some receive candy, others ask questions that no child should ask: what if my mother doesn’t come back today? What if my dad disappears on the way to work?

This situation is not an exaggeration. More than 11,000 U.S. citizen children have been left without one or both parents as a result of deportations. Other minors have been separated from their families without due process, violating fundamental rights.

Far from being isolated events, these examples show a pattern that continues to deepen and that today is also reflected in the increase in arrests that directly impact children. In the last year, more than 6,200 children have been detained by ICE, a figure that shows the extent to which these policies are reaching the most vulnerable.

The impact of this climate of fear, furthermore, is not limited to family separation. Since 2025, schools, hospitals and churches – spaces that should be sacred for children – are no longer perceived as safe places. This government’s immigration policies have not only tightened surveillance, but have also sown deep fear that deters families from seeking medical care, sending their children to school, or accessing essential services. The result is devastating: children growing up isolated from the systems that should protect them.

As if that were not enough, the economic blow is also felt on the tables of our homes. According to FWD.us estimates, mass deportations and cancellation of work permits could cost the average family in the United States up to an additional $2,150 a year in 2028. Weekly spending on food could increase from $165 to $195 and the price of a new home could increase by about $Forty eight,000. These are figures that reflect a clear reality: these policies not only affect immigrant families, but also the entire country.

Meanwhile, despite this context, families in the United States have been consistent in their priorities: they want Washington to focus on reducing the cost of living and investing in essential programs such as child care, health and elder care. However, the Department of Homeland Security’s funding project pushes the opposite. It pours resources into intensifying chaos in our communities, cruel detentions of children and families, and deportations that eliminate key workers in sectors such as construction, agriculture, health and child care.

Consequently, our country needs an immigration system that is safe and orderly, yes, but also humane. One that balances safety with compassion. What we don’t need are cuts to health or policies based on cruelty.

On this Children’s Day, as we sing and celebrate, let us not lose sight of that child who goes to bed in fear, a fear born of immigration policies that continue to separate families and violate fundamental rights. That child who has learned to live with uncertainty as part of his routine, represents the most painful consequence of these decisions. Faced with this reality, the question is inevitable: what kind of country do we want to be?

We must aspire to be a country where no mother is afraid to take her child to the doctor or to school. Where no child walks through the classroom door with the anxiety of not knowing if their family will still be intact at the end of the day. A country where childhood is not crossed by fear, but protected by dignity and collective care. That’s what any child deserves. And that is what we must demand of our legislators, not only on April 30, but every day of the year.

Linda Stone

She is director of Mamas con Poder.

The texts published in this section are the sole responsibility of the authors, so La Opinión does not assume responsibility for them.

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