The Trump regime's open racism, travel bans, threats to "sanctuary cities,” and already stepped-up deportation efforts are having one big, probably-not-intentional-but-who-knows effect: More kids are going hungry. That's because families with undocumented family members are staying away from government programs they're entitled to, out of fear that merely interacting with the programs will turn them into Trump administration targets.

Of the 20 organizations working with documented and undocumented immigrants that I spoke with in recent weeks, 17 said they had seen legally eligible families declining to enroll or even unenrolling from programs, including SNAP, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, free school lunches, and the Women, Infants, and Children program. [...] Through policy changes and simple anti-immigrant posturing, the Trump era will likely increase poverty and hunger in Latino communities, experts said, with children—in many cases, citizen children—among the hardest hit.

Stories of government officers staking out schools in order to nab undocumented parents has resulted in more absenteeism. Stories of agents arresting DREAMers have families living in constant fear. And yes, American children may be going without food because their families don't want to risk drawing attention to other, non-citizen family members.