1. United States
2. Calif.
3. Letter

I am writing to express deep concern about recent actions by the Department of Homeland Security that have harmed children and families. In Minnesota, aggressive immigration enforcement operations have reached school grounds, contributing to fear and disruption among students and educators. Reports document incidents where federal agents’ presence and tactics have significantly impacted school communities and caused anxiety for families with children. Nationally, there are documented cases of children and their parents being detained by immigration authorities while seeking medical care. For example, a family including a seven-year-old girl was detained by federal agents in the parking lot of a health center while trying to obtain treatment for the child’s medical condition. These kinds of encounters are traumatic for young children and raise serious questions about how immigration enforcement prioritizes public health and safety. Numerous health, pediatric, and child welfare organizations have condemned current enforcement practices for the harm they cause to children’s well-being and development, and are calling for protections that reinstate policies limiting federal enforcement actions near sensitive locations like schools and medical facilities. This pattern of enforcement has also contributed to widespread family separations and prolonged detention experiences that are detrimental to children’s physical and mental health. Independent reporting shows significant numbers of immigrant children are being placed into federal shelter systems, often far from their communities and support networks. To keep children safe and uphold basic humanitarian principles, federal immigration enforcement must be reformed. I urge you to support clear bans on DHS and ICE operations near schools and health care facilities, to prevent traumatic separations of families, and to pursue meaningful structural changes to the immigration enforcement system. The current approach prioritizes detention over child safety and does not reflect the values of care and protection that all children deserve.