The Trump administration plans to open a 528-bed detention facility for migrant families and unaccompanied children next to an airport in Alexandria, Louisiana.
Unaccompanied minors are being detained and deported at roughly three times the rate of Trump’s first term, with immigration courts issuing more than 10,000 removal orders per month for immigrant children.
Georgia saw an 80% increase in immigrant children entering state custody due to parental detention or deportation—rising from 46 to 83 over a six-month period.
Under the second Trump administration, child detentions in California communities have risen sharply, with 61% of detained children deported—compared to 8% under Biden—while nationally, the number of children in ICE detention is ten times higher than in Biden’s final year.
This article outlines the legal rights all children in the U.S. hold regardless of immigration status—including rights to safety, education, due process, and legal protection—for families, educators, providers, and advocates.
Texas Democratic members of Congress have raised alarm that the federal government may be relocating unaccompanied migrant children to Texas to expedite removals.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal has introduced Orlin’s Law—named for a 3-year-old who was murdered after his mother was deported without him despite her request that he accompany her—demanding accountability from DHS and ICE as family separations continue.
A Honduran woman who spent nearly a year completing vetting requirements to sponsor her niece and nephew from federal shelter was arrested by ICE in the process—highlighting how the Trump administration’s changes to the sponsorship system are deterring relatives from coming forward to care for unaccompanied children.
The Trump administration ended federal legal representation for more than 20,000 unaccompanied children on July 31, leaving these kids to face fast-tracked deportation hearings without attorneys.
A new DHS public charge rule taking effect September 18 is expected to deter immigrant families—including millions of eligible U.S. citizen children—from accessing healthcare, nutrition assistance, and other essential benefits they are legally entitled to receive.
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