WASHINGTON, DC, December 11, 2025 — A new report from the American Immigration Council warns that the U.S. child care system — already strained by rising costs, staffing shortages and high demand — faces catastrophic disruption under President Donald Trump’s mass deportation plan. Losing even a small portion of the child care workforce could leave families uninsured and unable to work.
Read the report here.
The report, “Immigrant Workers and the Child Care Crisis: What’s at Risk for Families and the Economy,” found that one in five child care workers in the United States are immigrant workers, with greater concentrations of immigrant workers in metropolitan areas such as Miami and San Jose. More than half are non-citizens, and nearly one-third are illegal aliens who are at risk of deportation and loss of work permits.
The report also includes detailed profiles of 10 childcare workers and parents whose livelihoods and family stability have already been undermined by crackdowns and visa uncertainty.
“Working parents are already feeling the strain of a barely-sustaining child care system. Without safe, stable child care, parents can’t go to work, and immigrants play a critical role in providing it. Mass deportations are pulling that foundation out of families and jeopardizing parents’ ability to remain in the workforce,” said Jeremy Robbins, executive director of the American Immigration Council.
Explore the data here.
The report documents how increased enforcement is already hampering access to child care in some areas. Enrollment at a daycare center in South Philadelphia, which primarily serves low-income immigrant families, plummeted from 158 to 97 students following enforcement measures that forced layoffs and classroom closures. A teacher at a Washington, D.C., preschool was forced to quit after new barriers to maintaining her work permit emerged.
Other key findings include:
20.1% of childcare workers are immigrants, numbering more than 282,000, and the overwhelming majority are women. In cities like San Jose and Miami, immigrants make up more than two-thirds of child care workers. In Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco, they make up nearly half of the population. The shortage of human resources is already serious. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that turnover will create 160,200 childcare worker jobs each year over the next 10 years. Immigrant child care workers are generally more likely to be self-employed and work full-time, filling child care positions that are difficult to fill with U.S.-born child care workers. Aggressive immigration enforcement has already led to child care center closures, empty classrooms and absenteeism in some areas. The report includes testimonies from 10 people, including childcare workers and parents, profiling how they would pay if the childcare system were further tightened through large-scale raids and tighter visa restrictions. “I want to be more productive. I want to be part of the workforce,” said her mother, also known as Jen, who lives in New York City. “As things get worse, I always hear a little voice in my head: ‘Please, don’t cancel my visa.’ [But] if [my au pair] If that happens, you will have to quit your job. ”
Read the report here.
The disruption to the U.S. child care system caused by President Trump’s immigration policies will impact not only households but also the broader labor market. According to U.S. Census data analyzed in the report:
By 2025, 12.8 million households with children under the age of 14 (41.9 percent of households) will have at least one adult whose job is affected by lack of child care. This includes 2.5 million households that took advantage of unpaid leave, 2 million households that reduced their working hours, 1.3 million households with adults who did not look for work, and more than 600,000 households with adults who quit their jobs.
“From hospitals to retail stores to the high-tech industry, American employers depend on parents being able to work,” said Nan Wu, director of research at the American Immigration Council. “Laying off the workers who make child care possible would discourage labor force participation and weaken the economy at a time when it is already in trouble.”
