New economics study finds that ICE activity has upended the US childcare workforce [View all]

[erronis]

https://phys.org/news/2026-05-economics-ice-upended-childcare-workforce.html
by University of Vermont

When U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations come to town, it can create a landscape of fear, chilling commerce and school attendance, and now, new research shows that it affects childcare workers.

A team from the University of Vermont, Yale University, Arizona State University, and American University has examined how changes in ICE tactics between 2023 and 2025 have influenced the childcare workforce--a vital sector of the economy that employs nearly one million workers across the country and generates $7.2 billion in quarterly wages and is comprised of roughly 20% immigrant labor. The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy.

"When ICE enforcement intensified, the formal childcare sector lost capacity: centers reduced enrollment, closed classrooms, and in some cases shut down entirely," says lead author Erkmen Aslim, an assistant professor of economics at the University of Vermont. "That has real consequences for American families; particularly working mothers, who rely on stable, affordable childcare to hold down jobs."

. . .

"The workforce that cares for young children in this country is deeply intertwined with the foreign-born labor force, and disruptions to that workforce show up as fewer childcare slots, higher prices, and harder choices for parents," Aslim says. "The takeaway is that immigration policy is, in a very practical sense, also childcare policy and family policy."