More than 400 children have been sent to government-run shelters since Donald Trump entered office as the administration begins arresting a growing number of immigrant families to keep pace with the president’s demands for mass removals.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has moved dozens of children into the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement in recent months, according to The Washington Post, citing people who reviewed internal records.
The actions recall the infamous “zero tolerance” era of Trump’s first administration that separated thousands of migrant children from their parents at the U.S.-Mexico border, a policy that was effectively blocked by a settlement in a federal court case.
Now, Trump’s second administration has launched an “unprecedented” return of family separation across the United States, including targeting mixed-status families who have lived in the United States for years, according to legal advocates who spoke to The Independent.
Some of those families have lived in the United States for more than 10 years, including families with citizen children who have spent most or all of their lives in the country, according to lawyers and advocates.
Advocates fear immigration enforcement arrests targeting families in the country’s interior are forcing children to either leave with their parents or stay with other family members or no caregiver at all, which could mean moving into state foster care systems or into federal custody, according to Laura Just, senior director of protection and legal pathways for Kids in Need of Defense.
At an adult reception center in Honduras, parents are “crying, distraught, desperate” and “haven’t spoken to children since their arrest … and certainly don’t know the path to reunification with them,” Just told reporters Tuesday.
A settlement in federal court had effectively blocked forced separations under Trump’s first administration, but the agreement does not apply to families arrested beyond the U.S.-Mexico border in cities and towns where immigrant households have lived for years.
In July, the Trump administration revoked Joe Biden-era guidance that directed federal agencies to arrest immigrant families only in “limited circumstances.”
ICE officers are now arresting a growing number of immigrant families while the administration relies on apparent threats of separation to force them to drop their immigration cases and leave the country.
“What we are seeing now is a reckless attempt to deport as many people as possible without regard at all to family unity or family relationships,” National Immigration Law Center attorney Efrén Olivares told The Washington Post. “And it’s happening in darkness without any kind of oversight or accountability for what this process means for families.”
It is unclear how many children in federal custody have been separated from deported family members.
The Independent has requested comment from the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Homeland Security officials have repeatedly insisted that the administration is not splitting up families, and that deported parents have the option to either leave with their children or place them with a guardian in the United States. But families and advocates say it’s an impossible choice that inevitably rips apart households who leave children in the United States for their safety and a chance at a better life.
The increased number of family separations and children in federal custody comes as the Trump administration tries to swiftly deport hundreds of immigrant minors, sparking an ongoing legal battle to block their removals.
A federal judge has temporarily blocked immigration officials from deporting roughly 600 Guatemalan in federal custody, and lawyers for Honduran children are seeking a similar protective order to block their removal.
Government officials in Honduras have been scrambling to prepare for the arrival of as many as 400 Honduran children with only a few days’ notice. The country is “woefully ill-prepared” to receive them, according to Kids in Need of Defense.
“There was a universal response from governmental actors, non-governmental actors, and international organizations, who were all on high alert and working furiously to figure out how they could safely receive over 400 children from the United States,” according to Jennifer Podkul, the chief of global advocacy for Kids in Need of Defense.
The Trump administration’s actions have sparked a “panic moment” there, she told reporters.
“It was a uniform response of: we want to make sure that they’re safe and have a safe and dignified return,” she said. “And we do not have what we need in order to do that.”
Aid groups — which have also been financially gutted by the Trump administration and forced to lay off staff — have only received a list of children’s names, with no information about where their families are or what needs they might have, according to Podkul.
“Everyone felt like, ‘How are we going to make sure we can receive these children and get them to a safe place?’” Podkul said.
More than two dozen children from Guatemala targeted for removal by the Trump administration are vulnerable to child abuse and human trafficking, according to a new federal whistleblower complaint. That report appears to contradict a sworn statement from a senior administration official who told a federal judge that Guatemalan children who could be deported have been properly screened and cleared for removal.
At least 30 children had “indicators of being a victim of child abuse” in Guatemala, based on the government’s own findings, according to the report.
More than 300 children were hastily targeted by the Trump administration over Labor Day weekend, with many sitting on planes preparing to leave the United States, until a federal judge intervened.
In court documents supporting a request to block their removal, more than a dozen Guatemalan teenagers described their overwhelming fear of returning to their home country.
They describe childhoods in neglect, threats of extortion and gang violence against them or their families, and returning to homes or government shelters where they were abused or trafficked.
“The administration’s position that it was merely cooperating with the Guatemalan government to return children to their parents is belied by the facts,” attorneys for Guatemalan children wrote in court filings.
“Even if the administration’s contentions regarding its coordination with the Guatemalan government are true, any such coordination does not excuse the government’s illegal action and does nothing to change its obligation to provide unaccompanied minors with the process unambiguously due to them under the law,” they added.
