Padilla, Schiff, 55+ Lawmakers Press HHS on Violent Immigration Raids’ Harmful Impacts on Children

"ICE and CBP['s] … disregard for child welfare undermines the government's core child-protection obligations. Yet your agency does not appear to be taking any action to speak out against or investigate the impacts of the Trump Administration's immigration agenda on children."

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senators Alex Padilla, Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Immigration Subcommittee, and Adam Schiff (both D-Calif.) joined Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Senator Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.), Representative Mike Quigley (D-Ill.-05), and 56 other lawmakers in pressing Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on children's exposure to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection's (CBP) escalating violence in American communities, which threatens to leave them with lasting physical and psychological trauma.

Under the Trump Administration, children - both U.S. citizens and noncitizens alike - have been exposed to increasingly violent and intense immigration enforcement operations. After Donald Trump rescinded ICE's sensitive locations policy on his first day back in office, ICE has carried out raids at schools, day care centers, and even a child's birthday party. ICE and CBP have become more violent, employing military-style techniques in communities across the country, without regard for the presence of children. Even when children are not the direct target, their exposure to these reckless actions can create lasting trauma.

Senators Padilla and Schiff previously demanded answers from the Trump Administration regarding an attempt last year by ICE agents to enter two Los Angeles Unified School District elementary schools to question students. They expressed serious concerns about the erosion of public trust in the local community. Since Trump began his indiscriminate mass deportation campaign in Los Angeles last June, student and staff absences have risen at California child-care centers.

"ICE and CBP operations that treat children like collateral damage threaten their physical and mental health and wellbeing. … This disregard for child welfare undermines the government's core child-protection obligations," wrote the lawmakers. "Yet your agency does not appear to be taking any action to speak out against or investigate the impacts of the Trump Administration's immigration agenda on children."

"[ICE and CBP's] practices have triggered national outrage and risk traumatizing children and depriving them of access to education and basic services, with lasting consequences for their behavioral, physical, academic, and emotional wellbeing," continued the lawmakers.

ICE and CBP violence has terrorized schools and families with young children across the country. Five-year-old Minnesota resident Liam Ramos was detained for more than a week in a Texas facility after reportedly being used as "bait" to capture his father. His father said Liam was not eating well and was asking about his mother and classmates.

In Massachusetts, a man suffered an apparent seizure while ICE officers attempted to detain his wife as their toddler cried within arm's reach. Witnesses allege agents pushed him, struck him, and pressed on his neck while the child remained trapped between the adults.

In Illinois, ICE officers forcibly detained a day care teacher in front of her students. In another incident, masked agents deployed tear gas near an elementary school in Chicago, sending children running and teachers scrambling for cover. In Texas, ICE officers stormed a five-year-old child's birthday party, where state and federal officers conducted an operation that resulted in the apprehension of 47 people, including nine minors - one of whom was just three years old.

"Children's exposure to traumatic ICE raids occurring in their communities across America can have lasting effects on their long-term health and development, including their behavioral and psychological wellbeing," added the lawmakers.

ICE and CBP operations are also hurting children's academic and social development. In districts where ICE and CBP raids have occurred, schools are reporting declining student attendance and performance; in some schools, nearly half of students have been absent following school-based immigration raids. Early childhood providers have reported attrition from day care, after-school programs, and other community programs that typically serve as spaces for positive socialization, mental health counseling, and other forms of support.

Immigration enforcement actions are also impacting children's access to health care. Most health care workers report significant or moderate decreases in patient visits since January 2025, and the children who do continue to visit the doctor reportedly have declining physical and mental health. One doctor observed "abnormal weight gain trajectories" in children not getting exercise outdoors due to "fear of encountering ICE," and another pediatrician reported that "minors [are] constantly crying during their well-child checks expressing their fear for themselves and their families."

The lawmakers highlighted HHS' various programs, offices, and agencies that research and provide for children's physical and mental health and well-being, and requested that Secretary Kennedy share any information and data HHS has regarding the impact of ICE and CBP operations on children's mental health and development.

In addition to Padilla, Schiff, Warren, Alsobrooks, and Quigley, the letter was also signed by Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.), as well as Representatives Yassamin Ansari (D-Ariz.-03), Becca Balint (D-Vt.-AL), Nanette Diaz Barragán (D-Calif.-44), Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.-02), Shontel Brown (D-Ohio-11), Julia Brownley (D-Calif.-26), André Carson (D-Ind.-07), Sean Casten (D-Ill.-06), Judy Chu (D-Calif.-28), Gil Cisneros (D-Calif.-31), Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-N.J.-12), Angie Craig (D-Minn.-02), Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas-30), Danny Davis (D-Ill.-07), Madeleine Dean (D-Pa.-04), Diana DeGette (D-Colo.-01), Maxine Dexter (D-Ore.-03), Dwight Evans (D-Pa.-03), Valerie Foushee (D-N.C.-04), John Garamendi (D-Calif.-08), Jesús G. "Chuy" García (D-Ill.-04), Dan Goldman (D-N.Y.-10), Jimmy Gomez (D-Calif.-34), Al Green (D-Texas-09), Jahana Hayes (D-Conn.-05), Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.-51), Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.-07), Hank Johnson (D-Ga.-04), Sydney Kamlager-Dove (D-Calif.-37), Robin Kelly (D-Ill.-02), Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.-08), George Latimer (D-N.Y.-16), Summer Lee (D-Pa.-12), Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.-08), Betty McCollum (D-Minn.-04), Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.-05), Kelly Morrison (D-Minn.-03), Seth Moulton (D-Mass.-06), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.-12), Joe Neguse (D-Colo.-02), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-D.C.-AL), Johnny Olszewski, Jr. (D-Md.-02), Emily Randall (D-Wash.-06), Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.-09), Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.-12), Adam Smith (D-Wash.-09), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.-12), Dina Titus (D-Nev.-01), Jill Tokuda (D-Hawaii-02), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.-20), James Walkinshaw (D-Va.-11), and Frederica Wilson (D-Fla.-24).

Senator Padilla has been a leading voice in opposition to President Trump's cruel and indiscriminate mass deportation agenda, including against his unprecedented, illegal militarization of Los Angeles and other American cities like Minneapolis. Last week, Padilla spoke on the Senate floor to hold the line against any additional funding for President Trump's DHS after the brutal killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE and CBP officers and agents. He also voted "no" against funding ICE and CBP's lawless and reckless actions absent accountability. Last month, Padilla joined leading immigration advocates and interfaith leaders at an "ICE Out for Good" rally and vigil to condemn the Trump Administration's abuses against American communities and to demand ICE and CBP leave Minnesota after Good's killing.

Last year, Senators Padilla and Blumenthal introduced the Accountability for Federal Law Enforcement Act to allow individuals - regardless of citizenship - the right to sue federal law enforcement officers and agencies in civil court for violations of their civil and constitutional rights.

Full text of the letter is available here and below:

Dear Secretary Kennedy:

We write with grave concerns about children's exposure to increasingly violent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) operations and the impacts of that exposure on their health, wellbeing, and long-term development. Children have become ensnared in ICE's and CBP's aggressive and indiscriminate enforcement tactics, with ICE conducting raids in or near schools and day care centers and apprehending young children. These practices have triggered national outrage and risk traumatizing children and depriving them of access to education and basic services, with lasting consequences for their behavioral, physical, academic, and emotional wellbeing. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has a variety of programs, offices, and agencies that research and provide for children's physical and mental health and wellbeing, including the Administration for Children & Families (ACF), Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), and National Institutes of Health (NIH). We request that you provide any information HHS has regarding the impact of ICE and CBP operations on children's mental health and development.

Under the Trump Administration, children - both U.S. citizen and immigrant children alike - have been exposed to more frequent and intense immigration operations. On Day 1 of this administration, President Trump rescinded ICE's sensitive locations policy that protected schools, places of worship, hospitals, and other sensitive places from ICE raids. Since then, ICE has carried out raids at schools, day care centers, and even a child's birthday party. ICE has adopted more militarized and chaotic arrest tactics, including smashing car windows and raining glass on drivers and passengers, deploying tear gas in residential neighborhoods and schools, and unleashing "attack dogs." Even when children are not the direct target, their exposure to such tactics can create psychological trauma, with some children describing life under a Trump-led ICE as "like living in fear all the time."

Recent incidents include:

• In Minnesota, a 5-year-old boy arriving home from preschool was taken by federal agents along with his father to a detention facility in Texas, "making him the fourth student from his Minneapolis suburb to be detained by immigration officers in recent weeks." Alarmingly, neighbors and school officials have alleged that federal immigration officers used the preschooler as "bait" by telling him to knock on the door to his house so that his mother would answer. That same week, immigration agents arrested and detained a 2-year-old girl in the city and flew her to Texas, reportedly in violation of a court order.

• Also in Minnesota, armed U.S. Border Patrol officers entered school property during dismissal and reportedly "began tackling people, handcuffed two staff members and released chemical weapons on bystanders." A video of the incident "show[s] armed, masked officers with apparent Border Patrol insignia on their uniforms dragging a person on a sidewalk outside of the high school." After this incident and the killing of a U.S. citizen mother named Renee Good, Minneapolis Public Schools canceled classes for children district-wide.

• In Massachusetts, a man suffered an apparent seizure while ICE agents attempted to detain his wife as their toddler cried within arm's reach. Witnesses allege agents pushed him, struck him, and pressed on his neck while the child remained trapped between the adults.

• In Illinois, ICE agents forcibly detained a day care teacher in front of her students. In another Chicago-based incident, masked agents deployed tear gas near an elementary school in Logan Square, sending children running and teachers scrambling for cover. In yet another incident, a man and his U.S.-citizen family were in their car during a routine shopping trip when federal immigration agents pepper-sprayed them, including the one-year-old daughter, who was left struggling to open her eyes and to breathe.

• In Texas, ICE agents stormed a five-year-old child's birthday party, where state and federal officers conducted an operation that resulted in the apprehension of 47 people, including nine minors - one of whom was just three years old.

Children's exposure to traumatic ICE raids occurring in their communities across America can have lasting effects on their long-term health and development, including their behavioral and psychological wellbeing. One expert warns that "[w]e are witnessing the effects of chronic fear, disrupted attachment, and intergenerational trauma on a massive scale." Research shows that children who witness the arrest of a parent often display symptoms of toxic stress, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder, reactions comparable to those observed in children exposed to war or community violence. In mixed-status families, children "increasingly live with the fear that a routine day could result in detention or deportation of a loved one, which is associated with increased PTSD and internalizing symptoms."

ICE operations also appear to be impacting children's academic development. In districts where raids have occurred, schools have reported declines in school attendance and student performance. For example, during a period of intense immigration raids in Central Valley, California, children in the area missed 22 percent more school days compared to the same period in past years, with the effect most pronounced among children in Kindergarten through 5th grade. In some schools, nearly 50 percent of students have been absent following school-based ICE raids, and "[m]issed school days often translate into academic decline, social isolation, and missed opportunities for developmental support." Students from immigrant families who continue to attend class do so "fearfully," while taking on new responsibilities such as dropping their younger siblings off at school, doing the grocery shopping, or working to pay for their families' needs. Similarly, early childhood providers have noted attrition from day care, after-school programs, and other community programs that typically serve as spaces for positive socialization, mental health counselling, and other forms of support.

Finally, immigration enforcement actions appear to be disrupting children's access to health care. More than four out of every five health care workers report significant or moderate decreases in patient visits since January 2025. When children forego routine immunizations, developmental screenings, and preventive interventions, it can lead to delayed diagnoses and late-stage disease presentations. Physicians have noted signs of declining physical and mental health during children's medical visits. For example, one doctor observed "abnormal weight gain trajectories" in children not getting exercise outdoors due to "fear of encountering ICE," and another pediatrician reported that "minors [are] constantly crying during their well-child checks expressing their fear for themselves and their families."

ICE and CBP operations that treat children like collateral damage threaten their physical and mental health and wellbeing - compounding the threats children are facing from other immigration policy changes, such as the Trump Administration's attempt to terminate the Flores Settlement Agreement's protections for children in immigration custody. This disregard for child welfare undermines the government's core child-protection obligations. Yet your agency does not appear to be taking any action to speak out against or investigate the impacts of the Trump Administration's immigration agenda on children. Given HHS's responsibility for the health and wellbeing of children in the United States, we request any data your department has collected regarding the impact of immigration operation on children's health and development, including answers to the following questions by February 18, 2026:

1. How have children been affected by ICE's and CBP's aggressive tactics, including the use of tear gas, explosives, attack dogs, and window smashing in or near schools, child care centers, bus stops, residential neighborhoods, playgrounds, and other locations? Based on studies that HHS or HHS agencies or offices have conducted, please describe any mental health challenges, behavioral changes, or developmental setbacks that children may experience because of these tactics.

2. Please describe any mental health challenges, behavioral changes, or developmental setbacks that children may experience in the case of the detention or deportation of their caregivers.

3. Immigration enforcement operations appear to be prompting children to miss school, perform more poorly in school, and miss doctor's appointments. Based on studies that HHS or HHS agencies or offices have conducted, please describe any impacts on children's health and development that children may experience due to such changes.

a. Beyond attrition from schools and doctor's appointments, have HHS agencies or offices observed attrition from any other programs or services (such as day care and after school programs, community health centers, work or volunteer opportunities, or public safety resources), including any HHS programs (such as Head Start, Early Head Start, and Healthy Start)?

4. Have HHS agencies and programs that serve children such as ACF, CMS, and ORR, seen disruptions to the ability to impart services to children and families or a decrease in participation as a result of ICE's enforcement tactics in communities across America? Please provide any specific data illuminating these trends.

Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Sincerely,

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