In this episode, Messellech “Selley” Abebe talks with Wendy Cervantes about how immigration enforcement policies are shaping children’s daily lives, why fear and instability can have lasting developmental consequences, and what it would mean to truly center kids in immigration reform. Cervantes is the Director of the Immigration and Immigrant Families team at the Center for Law and Social Policy and co-founder of the Children Thrive Action Network. Together, Abebe and Cervantes explore the trauma many children in immigrant families experience, the ripple effects of detention and deportation on schools and communities, and the policy solutions that could better protect children’s safety, stability, and long-term well-being.

To learn more about Wendy Cervantes and her work, you can visit the Center for Law and Social Policy website, the Children Thrive Action Network website, and follow her on X, and BlueSky.

Want to keep digging into the real-life impact policy decisions have on children? Here’s some of what First Focus on Children has published recently:

Born In The USA: The Constitution is Clear - Babies Are Citizens

Born Equal: Defending The Constitution’s Fourteenth Amendment For Every Baby

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