What Progressives Want for Mother's Day: Affordability and Family Reunification

Progressive leaders and organizations celebrated US Mother's Day on Sunday with calls for policy changes that would make life easier for families.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pointed out that issues of affordability make mothering—and celebrating mothers—more difficult.

"Despite the average family paying 20% of their income on childcare in 2025, [President Donald] Trump has said, 'It's not possible for us to take care of daycare,'" Warren posted on social media, referring to remarks the president made last month in which he claimed that the federal government could not afford to fund childcare, Medicare, and Medicaid because it needed the money for warfare.

"To really honor Mother's Day, we must fight for our government to pass policies that actually help mothers and families," Warren continued.

"If this country truly valued mothers, our politics would reflect it."

In a separate post, the Massachusetts senator listed several items, from cakes to coffee to flowers, that had gone up in price during the second Trump administration.

"Here's everything that's more expensive this Mother's Day under Donald Trump," she wrote.

Progressive political action group Our Revolution also called for a more robust social safety net for Mother's Day.

"If this country truly valued mothers, our politics would reflect it," the group wrote. "Universal childcare. Medicare for All. Paid family leave. A living wage. Affordable housing. Strong public schools. A four-day work week. Reproductive freedom."

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) who founded Our Revolution, wished a happy Mother's Day to his wife Jane and all other mothers, calling for both national and global stability.

"Let us continue our push for a world where all mothers can raise their families without the threat of war, with economic stability, and where their rights are protected," he wrote.

Other lawmakers focused on mothers who are separated from their children due to immigration detention under the second Trump administration, which resumed the practice of family detention after it had largely been abandoned under President Joe Biden.

Rep. Summer Lee (D-Pa.) spent Saturday preparing donations for Immigration and Custom Enforcement's (ICE) Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Decatur Township, Pennsylvania.

"This Mother’s Day I’m thinking of the moms and mother figures unjustly detained at Moshannon who would rather be at home with their babies," she wrote on social media.

Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) encouraged followers to donate to Each Step Home, which works to reunite immigrant families and support and release children in immigration detention.

"This Mother's Day, I'm thinking of Trump & ICE's cruel treatment of mothers & traumatization of children. No mother, no child, & no family should be detained—but that's exactly what's happening in Dilley, TX," she wrote, referring to a family detention center reopened by the second Trump administration and run by private prison company CoreCivic.

Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), meanwhile, shared the story of Isidoro González Avilés and Norma Anabel Ramírez Amaya, who were released from Department of Homeland Security (DHS) detention on Friday and reunited Saturday with their son Kevin González, who has terminal cancer.

Kevin, who was born in the US and raised in Mexico, was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer during a visit to the US, as CNN reported. His parents attempted to travel to the US to visit him before he died, despite having previous immigration infractions, and were detained. The family was finally able to reunite in Durango, Mexico.

"My heart is full seeing the images of Kevin and his family reunited," Ramirez wrote. "Our community made this moment possible. As we celebrate Mother's Day, let’s remember all the mothers still separated from their loved ones by DHS. For all the families that have not been reunited yet, we continue the fight."

In a separate post, she added, "To all those who are grieving loss, family separation, and the impacts of genocide and war this Mother's Day, we see you. You are not alone."