Immigration enforcement is ramping back up in northern Illinois.
The Illinois Head Start Association recently released a report sharing anonymous “community stories” of how ICE activity has impacted the kids at their childcare centers.
WNIJ education reporter Peter Medlin sat down with the executive director of Illinois Head Start, Lauri Morrison-Frichtl, to talk about it…
Peter Medlin (PM): What made you guys want to share these stories in this way?
Lauri Morrison-Frichtl (LMF): Well, as you know, last fall and earlier this year, ICE was all over our Head Start communities, especially in the Chicagoland areas and several other areas across the state.
Every day I would hear from directors who were crying and saying, “This is awful, this is terrible.” Our families and children are experiencing all of this. At that point, I said “We have to do something.” This is part of our history. This is happening to our children and families across the state. We just decided we need to start collecting these stories so they're not forgotten.
(PM): How has, over the past year, the increased immigration enforcement impacted the kids that you guys take care of, both emotionally and their ability to learn?
(LMF): Oh, geez, the experience of having immigration officials on our street wearing masks, carrying guns, shooting tear gas, blowing whistles — all of that is traumatizing to our children.
We couldn't take children out on the playground, for example, for fear of ICE and tear gas. Children were worried that they would be taken away. Even during role play, during class time, they would role play their trauma out. You know, “If you're not good, ICE is going to come and get you.” So, those are the kinds of stories. We know what trauma does to children and their learning.
(PM): Can you read one of the stories from one of the kids you featured in your community stories?
(LMF): I sure can. Sophia's older cousin was detained during an early-morning enforcement action. Since then, Sophia, one of our Head Start children, sleeps with her backpack packed with clothes and her favorite stuffed animal. Her grandmother says she's afraid of being taken away suddenly and wants to be ready.
Teachers are sharing she's having nightmares. She's regressed in potty training and has separation anxiety that didn't exist before.
We also have children who, if their parent is late picking them up, even by five or 10 minutes, fear their parent has been captured by ICE. Can you imagine that? They have extreme behaviors and meltdown anxiety because of that. The parent will show up to pick them up, but it's already baked into their memory.
(PM): Can you talk about how it's impacted your staff and the operation of centers? Again, obviously, it’s much harder to teach kids if they or their teachers are anxious or scared. You have had folks affiliated with Head Start detained, parents and classroom assistants afraid to leave their home, staff turnover, more kids absent.
(LMF): Right. We've had to make accommodations for our workforce. Of course, a lot of our staff live in mixed-status families. They're worried about their own family. We've had staff ask for accommodations about arriving to work because ICE is waiting outside the building.
We don't store children's files and information in the front of our office; they're all the way in the back of the office, so that ICE doesn't have them readily (available) if they walk into a private facility.
We've had to hire security guards to help staff coming in and out, and our families during drop-off and pick up. We've had low attendance during these times. We've had to support families by taking food, toiletries, diapers and things families need that they're afraid to come out and get.
(PM): Just over the past couple weeks, ICE activity in Illinois has ramped up again. Have you guys been seeing it at your centers and seeing some of that anxiety and trauma bubble back up?
(LMF): Yes, I'm glad you brought that back up. We've had several directors contact me and say, “ICE is in our parking lot.”
We're better prepared this time because we experienced this, and so we have systems in place. There are communication systems they put in place with their community partners where they alert each other and support each other.
(PM): You guys in early childhood think of yourselves as helping build the foundation for kids, both emotionally and academically. You've had to figure out how to change protocols and work things out in the moment. I'm curious if you've been thinking about the long-term impact this could have on kids?
(LMF): Yes, one of our primary goals is to get the child and family ready for kindergarten. When they enter the K-12 system, they're going to carry this baggage with them. Our goal is to start unpacking that baggage and support the individual child and family in this process. But it's extremely hard when this is still going on within the communities. All that fear and anxiety children are carrying with them, and the family is seeing and carrying with them.
Children are smart. They pick this up. They know what's going on. As a child, just think about this: it's almost like a war zone for them. When you think about all of the men carrying guns, wearing masks, all of the meanness and violence — our children are witnessing and seeing all of that. So, our expectation is, yes, the level of support needed now and will continue to need is going to be tremendous.
