Who is Protecting Our Children?
Photo Credit: Barbara Burgess-unsplash
The most vulnerable are those who pay the dearest price.
There can be no keener revelation of a society’s soul that the way in which it treats its children. — Nelson Mandela
According to a White House press release, “President Trump is protecting America’s children.” Unfortunately, the Trump “protections” seem less like actions designed to shield children from harm and more like a short list of tired Republican issues intended to stir the culture war pot. Let’s face it; the only children Trump acts to protect and enrich are his own. Instead of protecting America’s children, Trump has imperiled them. To pay for lavish tax cuts for the rich, Trump and Congressional Republicans have slashed the very programs that keep the most vulnerable children, fed and healthy: Medicaid and SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Picture the impact on those caught in our already failing child welfare system.
Trump’s first term was marked by the heartless separation of undocumented immigrants from their children. In Minneapolis, sadly, there is more of the same. We see Trump’s masked ICE and Border Patrol agents abduct immigrants with little regard for due process, and when there was a small child with his father, like 5-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, the small child was whisked up as well. There couldn’t be a more blatant example of the state harming rather than protecting a child. And that was just one example in this Trumpian universe of harm.
This brutality we can see “with our own eyes”. What we cannot see is the treatment of those who are detained without someone there to snap the photo and the impact on all children who come from the targeted neighborhoods or go to school with classmates who live in fear.
ICE and Border Patrol Agents bring with them chaos in the streets, tear gas in the air, the sound of gun fire in neighborhoods and on school grounds, children missing from class, reports of friends snatched and taken to detention centers, and lessons in what to do if ICE is in the vicinity. How do children handle this kind of information? Teachers speak of children falling asleep, bursting into tears in class, and even wetting themselves, but that is likely just the beginning. What will the long-term effects be? Will these children ever truly trust their government again? Are fear and loss of trust in government really the unspoken purpose of this occupation?
Also consider the Center for Disease Control’s recent decision to remove six vaccinations from its list of recommended shots. This non-science-based decision may soon rival gun violence deregulation for first place as the deadliest federal policy change for young people. Already the drumbeat of state sponsored disinformation about the protections from serious illness or death these vaccinations provide has significantly reduced the number of people being vaccinated. Experts believe that vaccine disinformation is why we have a measles outbreak in the U.S, including NC, where until recently, the disease was considered eliminated.
Trump has championed protections for the unborn, but what has he done to protect our school children from deadly violence? After the 2022 shooting in Uvalde, TX, Congress approved funding to hire mental health professionals in school districts nationwide. Even though gun violence is the leading cause of death for children ages 1-19, Trump slashed appropriated funds by almost $1 billion. (They were restored the next day due to bi-partisan Congressional pushback.) In contrast, click here to read about Governor Stein’s push to hire more mental health professionals in our schools.
The federal cuts also ended grants for prevention and research, including those focused on public safety and school violence. Of note is the letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi from eight Democratic lawmakers, signed onto by NC’s Valerie Foushee, blasting the administration for the funding cuts and other gun violence related changes.
This Republican administration has slashed grants intended to boost the rural teacher workforce, create Wi-Fi hotspots, and staff special ed for the disabled. They have also ended the SAVE federal student loan repayment program, forcing millions of students into costlier repayment plans. There is a little good news though. Congress rejected the administration’s proposed cuts to federal education and health programs for children in the recently enacted 2026 funding bills.
Unfortunately, there is little reason to believe that the Trump administration is likely to do anything other than redouble its tireless efforts to look after themselves and their allies rather than our young people. Consider the new national school voucher program intended to get parents to move their kids and our tax dollars out of our already underfunded public schools and into private schools. It is easy to harm children. They don’t vote and are easy pickings.
Young people are our responsibility and the country’s future, despite White House propaganda declaring President Trump “the protector of children.” It is up to us to say no to that dark vision of our society’s soul and of our collective future.
