A timeline of the Trump Administration’s attacks on the nation’s kids
Candidate Trump promised to keep the U.S. out of new wars. But during his first 100 days, to be marked tomorrow, President Trump has waged a war whose impact will ripple through generations: it is his War on Children.
“I’m not sure we’ve ever seen an Administration so laser-focused on targeting the nation’s children for harm. This president and his appointees — with an unprecedented assist from Congress — has specifically targeted children’s health care with $880 billion in proposed cuts, is closing down the Department of Education, and literally plans to steal the lunch money of the nation’s poorest kids. Babies have been singled out for special punishment with the proposed revocation of birthright citizenship and deportation of U.S. citizen children. This Administration is also promoting tax policies that penalize families for having newborns. And with the decimation of USAID, the President has left children overseas to die of AIDS, malaria and starvation by the millions. These actions signal a moral failing when it comes to supporting and protecting our children and grandchildren.”
Below find an abbreviated timeline of this systematic war on the nation’s children and policy proposals to end it.
January
- (1/20)Trump signs Executive Order to end Birthright Citizenship. First Focus Campaign for Children rebuts this reinterpretation of the 14th Amendment and sends a letter to Congress opposing the Birthright Citizenship Act of 2025 that follows.
- (1/20) The Department of Homeland Security rescinds protected area policy, allowing ICE officials to enter schools, child care centers, playgrounds, and other areas where children gather.
- (1/27) The Office of Management and Budget sends a memo to all federal agencies freezing funding and creating confusion among state and non-profit agencies. First Focus on Children estimates the disruption to children’s programs at $329 billion.
- (1/29) Trump signs an Executive Order seeking to strengthen school privatization. First Focus on Children reports on School Vouchers and the Growing Threat to Public Education.
February
- (2/4) President Trump’s extra-governmental advisor Elon Musk places thousands of USAID employees on leave and the Administration announces that the agency will soon be dissolved. First Focus on Children estimates that the shutdown will end more than $4 billion in funding that fights malaria, tuberculosis and HIV in children overseas, provides basic education, supplies clean water and sanitation, ensures maternal and infant health, protects children from sex trafficking, and offers other life-saving interventions.
- (2/19) Trump endorses the House budget plan that includes hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts that can only be achieved by decimating Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs that keep children fed and healthy. First Focus on Children calculates that these cuts threaten one-third of all school age children. First Focus Campaign for Children leads more than 350 partners in a letter to Congressional leadership urging lawmakers to reject the cuts.
March
- (3/07) USDA cancels $660 million in grants that help schools and child care facilities purchase food from nearby farms. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins calls the programs “nonessential.”
- (3/11) Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. provides misleading information during an interview on the measles outbreak that has sickened and killed children in Texas and has spread to other states. First Focus on Children President Bruce Lesley pushes back on continued vaccine disinformation and the Administration’s announcement to end an international vaccine program.
- (3/20) Trump signs an Executive Order to dismantle the Department of Education. First Focus on Children rebuts the misinformed claims by supporters of the illegal order.
April
- (4/01) The Department of Health and Human Services fires 10,000 employees, including the entire team that handles lead poisoning at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, just as Milwaukee schools beg for federal help with a lead-poisoning crisis. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program and teams dedicated to preventing H.I.V transmission to children during birth are also gone. HHS closes half of its regional offices, which devastates the Administration for Children and Families, the largest human services agency dedicated to supporting America’s children and families.
- (4/17) Leaked HHS budget proposal shows Trump Administration’s intention to eliminate key children’s programs, including Head Start, 988 mental health hotline service, and lead poisoning prevention programs. First Focus on Children traces the line from Project 2025 to the dissolution of Head Start in Trump Administration’s Plan to Eliminate Head Start Threatens Child Care, Families, and Economy.
- (4/22) Justice Department cancels grants that work to prevent gun violence.
- (4/22) Reports of new NIH database on autism research spark concerns about privacy.
- (4/23) Trump signs an Executive Order on School Discipline Policies.
- (4/27) Reports of deported U.S. citizen children increase, including deportations of children with cancer.