ICE Raids Are Robbing Children with Disabilities of Their Summer—and Their Safety
By Areva Martin, Esq. President & CEO, Special Needs Network
Los Angeles, CA, July 08, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Last week, our team at Special Needs Network started noticing something alarming. As we prepared to welcome hundreds of children with disabilities to our free summer camp—a lifeline for families across Los Angeles—registrations stalled. Then, the calls started coming in. Parents were afraid to leave their homes, afraid to bring their children outside, afraid to risk everything they’ve built for the chance at a safe, joyful summer for their kids.
Why? Because of ICE raids at MacArthur Park and across Los Angeles, targeting immigrant communities with sweeping enforcement that has put entire neighborhoods on lockdown. Two-thirds of our families have not completed registration. Not because they don’t want these opportunities for their children, but because these cruel immigration policies have made them too afraid to walk out their door.
These are parents already carrying the weight of caring for a child with autism or other developmental disabilities, often while juggling multiple jobs, language barriers, and systemic inequities that make accessing services an uphill battle. Now, they face the impossible choice between providing essential care and community for their child—or risking detention and family separation.
This is what happens when policy is driven by fear rather than humanity: children with disabilities are forced into deeper isolation, stripped of opportunities to learn, play, and grow simply because of their family’s immigration status.
At Special Needs Network, we see every day how critical these summer programs are. They provide therapies that children might otherwise lose over the summer months, opportunities for socialization that help prevent regression, and respite for parents who are working tirelessly to keep their families afloat. These programs are not luxuries—they are lifelines.
We urge policymakers to consider the harm being done to children with disabilities and their families by these heavy-handed enforcement tactics. We call on community leaders and elected officials to advocate for a moratorium on these raids and to work toward policies that protect, rather than punish, our most vulnerable children.
Every child deserves a safe summer. Every family deserves to live without fear.
Let’s ensure that we are building communities where children with disabilities—regardless of their family’s immigration status—can thrive.
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Special Needs Network, Inc. (SNN) is a nonprofit grassroots organization responding to the crisis of autism and other developmental disabilities in underserved communities. We recognize the intersectionality of individuals with disabilities and that their fight for disability rights is inextricably tied to the fight for racial justice and the civil rights of all people.
Special Needs Network communications@snnla.org
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