Between February and July 2025, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests increased under the current administration, the United States lost 39,000 foreign-born child care workers compared to the same period in 2024. That is not a rounding error. It is a workforce crisis compounding an existing workforce crisis.

One in five early childhood educators in the United States is an immigrant. In major metropolitan areas — New York, Los Angeles, Chicago — immigrants comprise nearly half of the child care workforce. These are not abstract labor statistics. They represent the people who show up every morning to care for infants and toddlers so that the rest of the economy can function.

The loss of 39,000 workers hits a sector that was already hemorrhaging staff. The January 2026 NAEYC workforce survey found that four in five child care centers are understaffed. Close to half of programs operate below their preferred enrollment capacity.

The policy conversation around child care and immigration rarely acknowledges this dependency. The child care system in American cities is built, in significant part, on immigrant labor. Enforcement actions that remove or discourage these workers do not eliminate the need for child care. They eliminate the supply, driving up costs for families and driving down quality for children.

Child care policy is workforce policy is immigration policy. Until the conversation reflects that reality, the field will continue losing the people it cannot afford to lose.

Sources: The 74 | NAEYC 2026 Survey

waginglove

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