Public Benefits for Immigrants: A Guide for Practitioners
National Immigration Law Center (November 5, 2025)
This guide helps practitioners understand and navigate the complicated and changing rules around public benefits eligibility for immigrants.
Before ICE: A Guide for Parents at Risk of Deportation or Detention
Documented (July 30, 2025)
This guide provides important steps for parents at risk of detention or deportation to consider to ensure their child’s well-being.
State Child Safety Plans
Appleseed Network (2025)
These state-specific guides help immigrant families create safety plans for their children in case of detention or deportation, providing information on custody options, legal forms, vital records, and consulate contacts.
CICW 2025 Year-in-Review
Center on Immigration & Child Welfare Initiative (December 2025)
This 2025 “year-in-review” highlights the CICW’s work throughout 2025. Thank you to all our partners and collaborators for your continued support. We look forward to continuing our efforts to support immigrant children and families in 2026.
Working with Traumatized Children
Child Welfare League of America • Thursdays, January 8, 15 & 22, 2026 • 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm ET
CWLA is offering a three-part virtual training series based on the third edition of “Working with Traumatized Children – A Handbook for Healing,” which will teach participants how to recognize trauma symptoms, understand trauma’s impact on children’s brains, create safe environments, and implement effective healing strategies while practicing self-care.
Beyond “Shock and Awe”: Immigration Actions in the First Year under Trump 2.0
Migration Policy Institute • January 13, 2026 • 10amPT/1pmET
This webinar will analyze Trump’s first-year immigration actions, including mass deportations, refugee restrictions, and travel bans on 39 countries, examining their legal basis and actual effects on labor markets, communities, and future immigration to the United States.
ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.
Mica Rosenberg, Mario Ariza, McKenzie Funk, Jeff Ernsthausen and Gabriel Sandoval; ProPublica (November 24, 2025)
ICE has placed more immigrant children in federal shelters this year than the previous four years combined, with kids now spending an average of six months in custody under Trump compared to one month under Biden.
Unaccompanied migrant children being sent to Texas border to be deported, lawyers say
Sandra Sanchez, Border Report (December 9, 2025)
The Trump administration has transferred dozens of unaccompanied migrant children from inside the U.S. to four detention facilities in South Texas where they are being held while awaiting deportation.
About 400 immigrant children were detained longer than the recommended limit, ICE admits
Valerie Gonzalez, AP News (December 9, 2025)
Hundreds of immigrant children have been held in federal detention beyond legal time limits, with some detained for over five months, raising alarms among legal advocates about the government’s failure to protect these children.
Trump administration separates thousands of migrant families in the U.S.
Gisela Salomon, Associated Press (December 11, 2025)
Trump’s current immigration enforcement is separating families differently than in his first-term – officials are detaining tens of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers inside the U.S., holding a record 66,000 people in often poor conditions while deporting others and dividing families of mixed legal status.
Immigration crackdown leaves teens to care for siblings after parents get detained
Jack Brook & Sara Cline, AP News (December 11, 2025)
Federal immigration raids across southeast Louisiana and other cities have resulted in over 250 arrests this month, leaving some teenagers to suddenly take on adult responsibilities as breadwinners and caretakers after their parents were detained.
Federal Court Blocks ICE’s Unlawful Detention of Immigrant Teens Turning 18
American Immigration Council (December 12, 2025)
A federal court blocked ICE’s new policy of automatically transferring unaccompanied migrant children into adult detention facilities when they turn 18, reinforcing protections that keep immigrant teens out of adult centers.
ICE Threw Thousands of Kids in Detention, Many For Longer Than Court-Prescribed Limit
Anna Flagg & Shannon Heffernan, The Marshall Project (December 17, 2025)
Since Trump took office, at least 3,800 children including 20 infants have been detained by ICE due to the administration’s renewed family detention policy, according to an analysis of government data.
Unaccompanied children being pressed to return to their countries by US border officials
Jose Olivares, The Guardian (December 19, 2025)
Federal border officials are pressuring unaccompanied migrant children into agreeing to return to their countries of origin despite safety concerns about returning home.
Detained migrant children aren’t being reunited with family, government sources say
Mark Betancourt, NPR (December 19, 2025)
Federal workers at the agency handling unaccompanied minors who crossed the border report being instructed to stop releasing these children to their U.S.-based family members.
Newly passed House bill would allow unaccompanied minors to be strip-searched and more
Carlos De Loera, LA Times (December 19, 2025)
The House has passed a bill that would require the Department of Health and Human Services to consider additional information when deciding where to place unaccompanied migrant children in its custody.
This Young Soccer Squad Has Never Faced a Rival Like Donald Trump
Samantha Michales, Mother Jones (December 2025)
This article, which quotes CICW Director, Kristina Lovato, and her research with unaccompanied minors, describes the multitude of challenges immigrant youth face as they navigate living amidst the Trump administration’s deportation agenda.
California County Convening on Immigration and Child Welfare
November 6, 2025 — Dr. Kristina Lovato, Assistant Professor of Social Welfare at UC Berkeley and Director of CICW, facilitated a peer dialogue at the 2025 California County Immigration & Child Welfare Convening. This interactive session featured a dynamic exchange among county child welfare leaders and practitioners on how systems across California have adapted to meet the evolving needs of immigrant children and families. The discussion surfaced strategies, promising practices, and lessons learned in advancing equitable, culturally responsive services statewide. Various links and resources from the event can be found at the link above.
Upcoming CICW Presentations at the Society for Social Work Research Conference
Society for Social Work and Research National Conference • January 2026 • Washington, DC
CICW Director Dr. Kristina Lovato, CICW Research Workgroup members, and CICW Emerging PhD Scholars (names in bold) will be presenting research findings on the intersections of immigration and child welfare at the upcoming Society for Social Work and Research 30th Annual Conference in January 2026:
- Borders within, Bridges Beyond: Community Healing and Empowerment across Youth, Family, and Organizations in the Contemporary Immigration Climate
Friday, January 16, 2026, 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM, Eastern
Organizer: Kristina Lovato, PhD; Cheryl Aguilar, MSW, LICSW, PhD Student; Arlene Bjugstad, PhD; Jodi Cardoso, PhD; Sarah Howell, MSW, LCSW, STAR Counseling and Consultation; Tatiana Londono, MSSW, PhD; Discussant: Maryam Rafieifar, PhD - Coming of Age in a New Country: Navigating Schooling and Social Services Among Unaccompanied Immigrant Transitional Age Youth
Sunday, January 18, 2026, 11:30 AM – 1:00 PM, Eastern
Kristina Lovato, PhD - Enduring the Everyday: Necropolitics and the Lived Experiences of LGBTQ+ Asylum Seekers
Saturday, January 17, 2026
Michael Zuch, MSW, LCSW, PhD Student; Lillian Alexander, LCSW, PhD Candidate; Roei Hillel, LCSW; Edward Alessi, PhD - Flash Talk: Bilinguals Serving Latinx Families in Child Welfare
Saturday, January 17, 2026, 9:45 AM – 11:15 AM, Eastern
Vania Buck, PhD Student - Immigrant Service Access Needs & Recommendations in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region: A Qualitative Study
Sunday, January 18, 2026
Megan Finno-Velasquez, PhD, LMSW; Carolina Villamil Grest, PhD, MSW; Sophia Sepp, MSW, MPH; Danisha Baro, Ed.M., LMHC, LPC, M., LMHC, LPC; Gloria Brownell, MPS, MCJ - Key Factors Associated with Mental Health Services Use Among Immigrant Caregivers and Their Children Along a US-Mexico Border Community
Thursday, January 15, 2026
Carolina Villamil Grest, PhD, MSW; Megan Finno-Velasquez, PhD, LMSW; Irene Casey, PhD; Sophia Sepp, MSW, MPH - Navigating the Ethics of Research in a Challenging Policy Environment: Data Collection and Protection Strategies for Research with Immigrant Populations
Saturday, January 17, 2026: 4:00 PM-5:30 PM
Michael Zuch, MSW, LCSW; Megan Finno-Velasquez, PhD, LMSW; Maryam Rafieifar, PhD; and Cheryl Aguilar, MSW, LICSW, PhD Student - Predictors of Childcare Use and State Subsidy Uptake Among Immigrant Caregivers of Young Children on the US-Mexico Border
Sunday, January 18, 2026
Megan Finno-Velasquez, PhD, LMSW;Carolina Villamil Grest, PhD, MSW; Han Le, MA, MPP, PhD Student; Sophia Sepp, MSW, MPH - “Somos Como El Rio”: Stories of Survival and Love from Mothers Who Were Unaccompanied Refugee Minors
Sunday, January 18, 2026
Morgan Pardue-Kim, PhD Candidate; Celene Viveros Garces; Kerri Evans, PhD;
Melissa Smith, PhD - Workplace Confidence Among Latine/x Immigrants: The Role of Heterogeneous Identities, Social Support, and Policy
Friday, January 16, 2026, 3:45 PM – 5:15 PM, Eastern
Kerri Evans, PhD; Morgan Pardue-Kim, PhD Candidate
Presentation: Educational and Psychosocial Needs of Unaccompanied Newcomer Immigrant Youth
November 13 – 15, 2025 — CICW Research Team member and UC Berkeley Social Welfare MSW student Alishba Sardar, along with Dr. Kristina Lovato, presented their poster, “Understanding the Educational and Psychosocial Needs of Unaccompanied Newcomer Immigrant Youth in Schools,” at the Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management (APPAM) Conference in November 2025.
