Catalina, a 23-year-old US citizen, confidently drives to her job as a nanny and earns a fair wage. Yet her mother \u2013 an undocumented immigrant from Peru \u2013 has worked in the shadows for 30 years. <\/p>\n
The Obama administration focused on curbing interior deportations (as opposed to deportations at the border) and, especially in its later years, on so-called \u201cquick returns\u201d of recent border arrivals who were perceived to have fewer ties in the US. <\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of people told her nothing would happen, and indeed, nothing did,\u201d Catalina says, explaining her mother ultimately decided to stay. <\/p>\n
However, the harsh immigration policies of Donald Trump\u2019s administration paint a bleaker picture for both. The 23-year-old fears her mother could be detained when she drops off the children of a family she cares for every afternoon to support her own family. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s a single mom. I\u2019m the oldest daughter, so if something happens to her, I\u2019d have to take care of my siblings,\u201d Catalina says. \u201cShe had to sign a paper leaving everything to me, just in case: what to do with my siblings, her things, her money. It\u2019s awful to think about, but she feels prepared.\u201d <\/p>\n
Catalina\u2019s mother has raised her children alone and dedicated part of her life to childcare, a sector facing a deep staffing crisis\u2014one that has worsened in recent months, as experts say immigrants are essential to sustaining it. <\/p>\n
According to a report from the National Women\u2019s Law Center, 20% of early educators in the US \u2013 an umbrella term encompassing preschool teachers, home-based childcare providers, teachers aids and program directors \u2013 are immigrants. Women make up \u201ca significant percentage\u201d of the workforce in this sector nationwide. <\/p>\n
\u201cCare work is the work that makes all other work possible and enables all families to thrive,\u201d the report says. However, caregivers face low wages, lack of benefits, vulnerability to exploitation, and job insecurity. Undocumented workers, for their part, also lack basic labor rights and protections. <\/p>\n
Although she has lived in the US for years, Catalina\u2019s mother does not have access to work benefits like health insurance or social security. <\/p>\n
\u201cShe gets paid in cash or by check, but no benefits. Nothing,\u201d Catalina says of her mother\u2019s working conditions. <\/p>\n
Every year, undocumented immigrants living in the US pay billions of dollars in taxes even though they know they won\u2019t be able to enjoy the benefits unless their status is regularized. <\/p>\n
Additionally, the constant threat of being reported limits her even when accepting jobs. \u201cIf a job comes from an American family, I don\u2019t think she\u2019d take it. She\u2019s afraid that if something happens, someone will call the authorities.\u201d <\/p>\n
According to Cervantes, immigrant childcare workers \u201care often an invisible workforce.\u201d Despite their crucial role in the early education of an increasingly diverse child population, they are not sufficiently recognized. <\/p>\n
\u201cOne thing that often goes unrecognized is that these workers are among the few who are bilingual and culturally competent, particularly in the formal sector, which is highly sought after. Many families want their children in bilingual education programs, and these workers are essential for serving an increasingly diverse child population,\u201d adds the CLASP director. <\/p>\n
Beyond the numbers, the tightening of immigration policies under Trump\u2019s administration has directly impacted the reality of thousands of families like Catalina\u2019s. <\/p>\n
A few weeks after Trump took office, his administration announced that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents could now make arrests near places like schools, churches, and hospitals, ending a longstanding policy that prevented them from operating in so-called \u201csensitive locations.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now, in some states where there is greater cooperation with local police, a nanny simply driving to work could be arrested, deported, and separated from her family,\u201d Cervantes notes. <\/p>\n
Catalina\u2019s mother experiences that anxiety firsthand every day when she gets in the car to pick up the children she cares for in the afternoons. \u201cWhen she arrives, there are always police officers managing traffic. Sometimes she hides in the car, doesn\u2019t get out. She waits for the kids to get in the car. It\u2019s awful,\u201d Catalina says. \u201cIf I meet her at the school, she feels a little better. But if she\u2019s alone, she doesn\u2019t.\u201d <\/p>\n
Without protective policies in place, like the \u201csensitive locations\u201d policy, it is much harder for nannies to serve families and feel safe continuing their work, Cervantes warns. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe way immigration enforcement measures are being applied across the country is happening with very little oversight and accountability. More people are becoming vulnerable to deportation because there is no longer prosecutorial discretion, for example, for parents or people with humanitarian reasons not to be deported. There\u2019s no way to prioritize who should or shouldn\u2019t be deported. Everyone is a priority. Therefore, everyone without status is in danger,\u201d adds the CLASP director. <\/p>\n
Catalina is currently studying, hoping to build her mother a house in Peru in case she decides to return one day. \u201cHere my mom has no one, no family, no sisters, no mother. Nothing. She\u2019s alone,\u201d she says, but insists she doesn\u2019t want to leave her alone either. \u201cShe worries more because she says, \u2018My daughter will be left alone.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n
Meanwhile, the Trump administration\u2019s growing push to advance its mass deportation plan could further harm the US childcare system. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf we lose immigrant workers, especially those who care for our children, as a country we will suffer. If deportations continue at the current pace, if this budget proposal passes Congress\u2014which would allow the administration to further increase its enforcement measures\u2014and if we keep seeing more people lose their immigration status, then this will have a very negative impact on the workforce overall, making it harder for all working mothers and fathers to find childcare and go to work,\u201d Cervantes says. <\/p>\n
This is the invisible role of Catalina\u2019s mother: she is the one who allows others to work while their children are cared for. Without her and many like her, the United States would be a very different country. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Catalina, a 23-year-old US citizen, confidently drives to her job as a nanny and earns a fair wage. Yet her mother \u2013 an undocumented immigrant from Peru \u2013 has worked in the shadows for 30 years. The Obama administration focused on curbing interior deportations (as opposed to deportations at the border) and, especially in its <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16814,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-16813","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16813","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16813"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16813\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16814"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16813"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16813"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/digitaltradecenter.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16813"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}