Adriana Lorenzo stopped children from playing outside after 10am with a parenting program running from her Boyle Heights home. That’s when she hears the ice agent start knocking on the door.
She added an extra lock to the outer gate, cancelling field trips to the parks and libraries, reassuring her desperate parents that she would not allow federal agents through her door. She also has a backup plan for the possibility that parents will be detained by federal agents while the child is caring for her.
Lorenzo collected emergency contact information for “safe” people who could pick up each of the 10 children between the ages of six months and 12 if their parents were not allowed. She waits 45 minutes after the pickup time and then calls the backup contact. For parents who said there was no one she didn’t trust, Lorenzo offered to keep their children on her own.
“I told her, don’t worry. If anything happens, I’ll keep the kids here safe until I can contact you or you can contact me, and we’ll go from there,” she said.
She sees concern in the eyes of the children. As the day was late, school-age children occasionally stared at the door, waiting for their mother to arrive. Last week, one of them asked Lorenzo, “What if they went to pick her up? What are we going to do?”
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Fear has become evident among Los Angeles parenting providers, which is about protecting Los Angeles’ youngest and most vulnerable residents. Now, in addition to their own safety and concerns of loved ones, they are addressing one of the most difficult questions of their professional life.
Jennifer Cortez, center and child care assistant will be playing with children at a home day care run by Zoila Carolina Toma, which was not filmed in Lakewood on Friday.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
Since Ice launched a widespread attack across Los Angeles on June 6, the fear infiltrated almost every side as masked federal agents converged in Home Depot parking lots, knocked on private home doors, wiped out street vendors, and detained people at swap conventions and gas stations. The delicate parenting industry is no exception.
About half of teachers at large parenting centers in Los Angeles and a quarter of teachers at large parenting centers in Los Angeles are immigrants, according to the Center for Childcare and Employment Research at Berkeley Center, California.
A naturalized citizen, Lorenzo always has a passport with her in case she is stopped.
“What if I went to the store, they didn’t ask questions and they just took me with me?” she said. “It’s affecting me both mentally and physically.” She worries about her business as attendees drop. Several parents have their children in the house.
Zoila Carolina Toma, which runs a family childcare program from her Lakewood home, usually has 14 children. However, the number has dropped to six, and the phones are silent. Future parents stopped calling to inquire about the opening.
“That was never the case in my case. I’m always full,” she said.
Toma said the remaining six children were all citizens. Still, she asked her parents to provide their children with their birth certificate for the first time. She is trapped in her home filing cabinet so that she can get a copy on the phone.
Preparing to knock on the door
Public Counsel, a nonprofit that offers free legal assistance, receives several requests each week and runs “know your rights” training for child care providers and other small businesses in the LA area. Public adviser Ritu Mahajan said everyone has constitutional protections against illegal searches and seizures, regardless of immigration status. She advises child care providers not to open the door if immigration agents appear in private childcare facilities. If the agent has a warrant, they can slide it down.
June 20: Childcare assistant Jennifer Cortez plays with her kids on Friday in Lakewood at a home day care run by Zoila Carolina Toma.
Samantha Reyes, 5, will be playing with her fellow children at a home daycare run by Zoila Carolina Toma, who left Lakewood on Friday.
“But what we see in the news is that sometimes ice agents aren’t following the law, and that’s clearly a big problem,” Mahajan said. Some people were arrested for demanding warrants, she said. “If they are going to make their way far, put yourself in the middle and don’t get hurt.
Sarah Soriano, executive director of Young Horizons Child Development Centers, which has five locations in Long Beach, said they have signs on every door they say is “private.” She helped to convene caregivers from across the community to prepare, but some scenarios are impossible to plan.
“If they’re going to take the kids, you’re not going to respond to what you do,” she said. One of the scary staff members asked if the ice should physically hold the child if they were arrested for taking ice. “The absolute fear they want to plant, they’re successful,” Soriano said.
The institutions and associations representing the parenting providers and centres were unusually mothers to protect them from the spotlight. Some refused to be interviewed. Some providers themselves go underground. Vision Y Rommiso, a California nonprofit that works with caregivers, has called providers to provide assistance. However, many people have stopped answering calls.
A nanny sleeping at the employer’s house
Susan, an immigrant from Guatemala, was a nanny for 18 years. She has a car but is afraid to leave, so she has chosen to stay home for a few days recently.
“I have three kids too. If I go over there, I don’t know if I can go back to them,” Susan said. She requested that her full name not be used to protect her.
When she went to work, she overturned her normal schedule. Nannies usually take their children to public parks and meet other nannies while the younger fees play.
Jennifer Cortez, left, Childcare Assistant is playing with her kids at a home day care run by Zoila Carolina Toma, which was not filmed in Lakewood on Friday.
(Allen J. Scheven/Los Angeles Times)
“The kids want to go outside, they want to run, they want to go to the park, they want to walk.” However, park time is too dangerous and she keeps her at home at a 2.5 year old. “It’s hard to navigate all her energy and explain to her that she has to stay home.”
Their go-to park is usually packed with nannies and children – empty, she said.
Another nanny in South Pasadena who asked to remain anonymous said she was at home, not going to the park or library.
“I never expected to experience this in this country,” she said. “We are animals and they feel like they’re hunting us.”
Susan’s employers have provided paid leave during the raid, but many of her friends have not been so lucky, she said.
“They sleep at their boss’s house from Monday to Friday and go with their family on Saturday and Sunday,” Susan said. “That’s why it’s so sad.”
Take your hands: The National Employer Network, a national nonprofit organization made up of household employers, recommends that current workers be paid leave so that they can evacuate from home. If paid leave is not possible, it is best to hold hands and assist workers with safe transportation plans by having their employer ride at work, providing taxi payments or accompanying them to the bus stop.
When the parents disappear
The Foundation for Early Childhood Education is a Head Start provider with 20 centres in East Los Angeles that care about about 500 children, and federal agents said they were found near several centers based in housing projects. The number of attendees has declined completely. HeadStart, a federally funded program, accepts children based on family income and does not need to check immigration status.
“Parents want to bring their children closer. They’ve heard of ice coming to school campuses, so they’re afraid to send them anywhere,” said Jocelyn Tucker, assistant director of the organization.
Teachers, some of them have been in the program for 30 years — and they’re also panicking, she said. Lewis Bautista, executive director of Head Start and Early Learning at the Los Angeles County Department of Education, did not confirm the sightings of El Monte, but said federal agents were approaching several Head Start centers that were close to firing hours.
All of the foundation’s centres are equipped with locked entrances, and staff must run visitors to the gates. When Ice knocks, Tucker says the teacher knows to tell the agent to “hold it in.”
However, last week, Tucker said he received an email with the subject line, “Ice picked up her father.”
“My heart sank into my stomach. It made me sick,” she said. “I felt this was my child. I’m just starting to cry. It’s so tragic.”
The father was sent to a Texas detention facility, where HeadStart is trying to provide resources to a four-year-old mother and child who have just been diagnosed with autism, including helping with food products and referring to mental health services.
“We’ll support her and let her flood, but her son wants to get his dad back,” Tucker said. “You’ve heard this is happening in other countries, and you think it’s never going to happen in America. But now it’s happening.”
Kate Sequeira from Times Audience Engagement Editor contributed to this article.
This article is part of the Times Early Childhood Education Initiative and focuses on learning and development for California children from birth to age 5. To learn more about the initiative and its charity funders, visit latimes.com/earlyed.
