Victoria Gomez de la Torre doesn’t know when — or if — the migrant children she serves are going to get the education help they’ve come to rely on.

Gomez de la Torre oversees the migrant education program for 12 central Florida counties. The federally funded service helps the children of migrant agricultural workers, who move within and between states based on planting and harvesting seasons.

Her staff identifies agricultural workers who’ve migrated to the area and helps them enroll their children in school. It also helps connect them with tutoring and medical care.

Earlier this summer, the Trump administration froze more than $6 billion in education funding, including money for migrant education, after-school programs, English-language programs for non-native speakers and other grants. Congress had already approved the money, but the administration said it wanted to conduct a review of the programs.

The administration announced last Friday it would release the remaining $5.5 billion of the money, after unfreezing $1.3 billion earlier this month.

But for Gomez de la Torre’s program, the damage had already been done: Without the money, it had to shut down this summer.

“We didn’t have enough money left over to carry the program,” said Joram Rejouis, the director of program development for the public schools in Alachua County, which includes Gainesville and is the largest of the 12 counties. “Definitely, stopping the program caused damage.”

The program came to a complete halt when Gomez de la Torre’s 11 staff members were offered other positions in the school district. Throughout July, about five dozen migrant children across the 12 counties were without summer services. The funds were supposed to go out before the start of the month.

“It’s going horrendously,” said Gomez de la Torre. “Migrant families depend on us, rely on our system and our help.”

The Alachua County program serves about 1,000 to 1,200 children of migrant workers throughout the year, many in rural farming communities. Each year, roughly 17,000 migrant children are served by programs across Florida.

“It is a very valuable program for a very vulnerable population,” Rejouis said. “Definitely, stopping the program caused damage, period — for the families, for the program and for the district.”

Migrant children are less likely to have regular primary care and are more likely to face health conditions such as anemia and high blood pressure. Many migrant families who harvest food in the fields don’t have enough food themselves.

The program also helps with communication and translation among parents, teachers and guidance counselors. “We were their go-to for whenever they needed something,” Gomez de la Torre said. “Now, they don’t have us.”

The freeze in funds added to the uncertainty and fear created by the Trump administration’s broader moves to target benefits for immigrants. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recently announced it had added Head Start to the list of public programs that would be closed to immigrants who are here illegally. After the funding announcement earlier this month, a senior official said the administration had established “guardrails” to ensure the funds are not used “in violation of Executive Orders.”

“It’s anybody’s guess when we’ll come back,” Gomez de la Torre said. “If we’ll come back. If people who chose to retire will return, if their retirement can be rescinded. … Nobody knows exactly how it’s going to play out.”

A similar story is unfolding in California.

The statewide Mini Corps program, run by the Butte County Office of Education, north of Sacramento, connects migrant children at schools and labor camps with bilingual tutors who help them during the school day. Many of the tutors are former migrant children themselves, said Yvette Medina, who oversees the program.

The funding freeze forced the office to lay off around 400 workers statewide, according to spokesperson Travis Souders. Despite Friday’s announcement, the organization is waiting for official word — in writing — before reversing layoffs.

“There’s going to be many students out there who are just going to have another disadvantage to the disadvantages that we already have,” Medina said.

In Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, the program was forced to shut down altogether, according to Medina.

Medina grew up in migrant labor camps, following her parents to the fields at 4 a.m. as they picked cherries and grapes before she went to school. Her parents worked throughout the Central Valley, back in Mexico and up and down the West Coast, all the way to Oregon.

“It is devastating,” she said. “If it wasn’t for the migrant program, I know for a fact there’s no way I would have graduated high school.”

Migrant families already are gripped with fear as the Trump administration ramps up immigration raids and arrests, which President Donald Trump insists are focused on those with criminal histories.

“They are terrified,” Gomez de la Torre said. “We had families stop sending kids to school and others who fled the country.”

Ruby Luis, a consultant who helps school districts across Florida identify and enroll migrant students in school, also was a migrant child. Her parents worked in orange groves, at strawberry and Christmas tree farms and produce-packing houses.

Program tutors read books with her and gave her school supplies. The program took her on college tours and she enrolled via a scholarship for migrant children — a first-generation college student. She eventually graduated with a degree in biology.

“Just having even somebody to talk to you about going to college — because you don’t have anybody to talk to about [that],” she said. “Having that support was really impactful.

“To take that away, and then now they just have to navigate it themselves, it creates these barriers,” Luis said. “And it can ultimately leave these children not having access to education.”

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Stateline reporter Nada Hassanein can be reached at nhassanein@stateline.org.

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