With U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations increasing in Minnesota, and following the killing of Minneapolis resident Renee Good, child care providers say learning and nurturing are being interrupted.

“We are all used to in Minnesota snow days, but we are now having ICE days, meaning that our kids are not able to learn, they are having their education cut because of ICE actions in our community,” said state Rep. Samantha Sencer-Mura, DFL-63A and a member of the House Children and Families Committee.

Sencer-Mura was part of a group sharing concerns Saturday at a press conference hosted by multifaith nonprofit ISAIAH at Christ Church Lutheran in Minneapolis, a couple of miles from where Good was shot by an ICE agent.

Speakers criticized the Trump Administration for attempting to freeze state child care funding and local Republicans for inviting YouTuber Nick Shirley to make a video portraying what he described as child care fraud in the state. They said Shirley’s video has inspired some to harass schools and immigrant communities.

They also said active ICE operations are making their child care facilities less safe for kids, educators and parents.

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“Whether or not we agree on policy is one thing, but the president ran a campaign on America First and said this was about getting criminals off the streets,” said Rep. Carlie Kotyza-Witthuhn, DFL-49B and chair of the Children and Families Committee. “Now American citizens are being killed in broad daylight and students are being tackled after school. None of this is about public safety anymore. In fact, ICE is destabilizing our communities and making us all less safe.”

A series of child care providers stepped up to describe experiences such as workers being detained on their way to work or leadership writing new protocols for what to do if ICE agents arrive at their buildings.

“Just hours after (Good) was killed on Wednesday, and just a few miles away, we saw ICE not take a beat, not rest, and instead go to our local high school (Roosevelt) and terrorize students, parents and community members at dismissal,” Sencer-Mura said. “We saw teachers being taken away. We saw our already traumatized community struggling to continue to keep each other safe. … They are traumatizing our kids.”

President Trump has deployed federal law enforcement in what the administration says is a necessary crackdown on crime and illegal immigration. On Thursday, the day after Good’s killing, Trump officials rejected claims by Minnesota officials that the deployment of immigration officers had been inflammatory and needed to end.

“The Trump administration will redouble our efforts to get the worst of the worst criminal, illegal alien killers, rapists and pedophiles off of American streets,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.