It’s Sofie’s final summer at home before heading off to college. She’s spent it shopping for dorm supplies, celebrating her birthday, and practicing driving with her dad so she can get her license. But as she gets ready for college, inside her home, another kind of preparation is quietly underway: Her parents are making a plan in case they’re taken by ICE.

Sofie is one of approximately four million U.S. citizen children under 18 who live with at least one undocumented parent. As headlines focus on legal and political battles over immigration, in this episode we look at a quieter story unfolding: The deep psychological toll that this climate of fear has taken on the generation of American kids who dread that a parent’s drive to work could end in deportation.

In a summer marked by aggressive, high-profile ICE raids, we visit a summer camp in the heart of an immigrant community, where the counselors have quietly taken down signs and developed a plan in case federal agents show up at their door.

We accompany some of these young people as they navigate the joys, hopes, and boredom of summer vacation amidst a backdrop of constant fear that now shapes even the smallest details of their lives. And we talk to a 9-year-old who has daily nightmares of ICE coming to take her parents.

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This story was produced by Ariel Goodman. It was edited by Sayre Quevedo and our managing editor Fernanda Echavarri. It was mixed by Julia Caruso. Fact checking by Roxana Aguirre.

Featured art by José Ortiz-Pagán.