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Children’s YouTube star Ms. Rachel — Rachel Accurso — showed up outside Delaney Hall, the Newark ICE detention facility, and sang to the kids there while surrounded by activists and politicians. She posted video thanking Senator Andy Kim and made clear she sees this as part of a political mission. Parents should be paying attention when entertainers for toddlers start doubling as political organizers at immigration protests.
What happened at Delaney Hall?
Ms. Rachel recorded herself singing with children and families outside Delaney Hall in Newark. In the clip she sings lines like “together, we’ll sing until everyone’s free,” and later posted a video with Senator Andy Kim thanking him for his work. Delaney Hall has been the site of heavy protests and clashes, and Senator Kim has been visible in the crowd. Activists have been using protests there as a dramatic backdrop, and now a popular kids’ entertainer has joined the show.
Why parents should be alarmed
When someone whose brand is built on bedtime songs and simple lessons starts staging rallies with politicians, it blurs a line parents expect to be respected. Kids’ entertainers are supposed to teach colors and counting, not chant slogans at the gates of a detention center. Ms. Rachel herself has said she is political, and parents who book her or watch her videos should know she is using her fame to push causes. That’s fair game for adults, but it should not be marketed to preschoolers as neutral entertainment.
The political theater and double standards
This is part of a trend where emotional scenes are used to shape public opinion. Democrats bring cameras to detention centers, invite sympathetic celebrities, and turn a complex policy debate into a photo op. Meanwhile, the serious questions about border security, legal process, and victims’ safety get shoved to the side. If you want to help immigrant children, do it through law and policy, not by turning them into props in a political performance.
A simple ask for adults
Parents, creators, and politicians should stop using kids as political backdrops. Ms. Rachel can choose causes — that’s her right — but she should be transparent and keep children’s entertainment and political activism separate. Lawmakers like Senator Andy Kim and local officials should focus on real solutions, not soundbites. In the meantime, parents who want safe, apolitical content would do well to watch who their children are following and demand better from the people who shape young minds.
