Federal agents on the lookout for undocumented immigrants to deport paid a visit recently to the offices of a state-funded children’s shelter in the Florida Keys.

Trying to find the undocumented parents of a child living in the shelter, the agents staked out the parking lot of the office building, assuming they would eventually come there to visit their youngster.

At a program dedicated to the welfare of families, federal agents were seeking to tear one apart.

The stakeout, detailed during a meeting this month between Florida’s privately-operated foster care providers and the state, is just one example of how the Trump administration’s mass-deportation campaign is encircling vulnerable children who were previously off-limits — and squeezing the social welfare agencies tasked with caring for them.