Minnesota Childcare Workers Unite to Protect Colleagues

Across Minnesota, childcare providers made a powerful choice: close their doors for a day to stand up for colleagues living in fear.

At least 50 childcare centers participated in the Day of Truth and Freedom, a coordinated economic blackout protesting increased immigration enforcement in their communities. The action halted childcare services across the state, sending an unmistakable message about worker solidarity.

The situation escalated after immigration officers began appearing at childcare centers throughout Minnesota. Many workers became afraid to show up for jobs they'd held for years, leaving centers already struggling with staffing shortages in an impossible position.

Megan Schmitz and Kayley Spencer, directors at a northern Minnesota childcare center, decided their participation was essential. "Other providers and families are experiencing this very real heaviness around being scared to go to school, being scared to go to work," Schmitz explains. "We needed to show solidarity, and that we won't stand for our neighbors and families being targeted in that way."

The threat goes beyond enforcement. A debunked YouTube video falsely accused Somali-run daycares of fraud, leading to a freeze on $10 billion in federal childcare funding across five states. While a federal judge temporarily blocked the freeze, the damage to trust and safety had already spread through communities.

Childcare providers responded by developing safety protocols they never imagined needing. "That is something as a childcare provider that I never thought I'd have to come across," Schmitz says about creating procedures for potential enforcement encounters. These new measures help staff feel secure enough to continue serving families.

The Ripple Effect

The coordinated shutdown demonstrates how essential workers can leverage their crucial role to demand change. Childcare enables parents to work, making providers an economic cornerstone. When 50 centers close simultaneously, communities feel the impact immediately.

Meredith Loomis Quinlan from Community Change notes that childcare workers have become a core part of Minnesota's broader movement for justice. "These childcare providers have really stood together," she says, highlighting how the sector transformed fear into collective action.

The protest reveals something powerful: workers in caring professions won't abandon their values to maintain business operations. They understand their strength lies in unity, and they're willing to use it to protect vulnerable colleagues and the families they serve.

Minnesota's childcare workers proved that standing together matters more than standing down.