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.
Federal border officials are pressuring unaccompanied migrant children into agreeing to return to their countries of origin despite safety concerns about returning home.
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.
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 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.
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.
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:
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.
This resource for immigrant parents outlines the rights that parents have while being apprehended and detained by ICE. Additional languages are forthcoming.
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