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.
A Timeline: Tracking How the Second Trump Administration Is Rolling Back Protections for Unaccompanied Children
Kids in Need of Defense (October 6, 2025)
This timeline follows the policy changes that have eroded child welfare and anti-trafficking safeguards for children seeking safety in the United States during the 2nd Trump administration.
CAREing While Talking with Unaccompanied and Separated Children about Immigration Enforcement: Practical Child-Centered Tips and Considerations for Service Providers
Kids in Need of Defense (October 8, 2025)
This guide equips professionals with trauma-informed, child-centered strategies to help children prepare for potential immigration enforcement encounters while managing their emotional well-being and safety.
The Unraveling of ORR: A Quick and Calculated Undoing of a System Intended to Protect Children
Neha Desai, Melissa Adamson, & Dr. Ryan Matlow; National Center for Youth Law (September 2025)
This briefing examines recent ORR policy changes, documents the barriers and extended custody times children face, presents expert psychological analysis of the harms caused, and proposes congressional solutions to improve outcomes for unaccompanied children in federal care.
Immigrant Service Access Needs and Recommendations in the U.S.–Mexico Border Region: A Qualitative Study
Megan Finno-Velasquez, Carolina Villamil Grest, Sophia Sepp, Danisha Baro & Gloria Brownell; Social Sciences, Special Issue on International Social Work Practices with Immigrants and Refugees (August 28, 2025)
This study examines service access barriers for immigrant families with young children and provides community generated solutions within the unique context of New Mexico’s borderlands.
“It’s Horrible to Live Like This”: Immigration Policy’s Real-Time Impact on Young Children
Juliana Zhou & Elisa Minoff, Center for the Study of Social Policy (July 16, 2025)
This brief details interviews with child care providers who report that the Trump administration’s mass deportation agenda is causing families to withdraw toddlers from care, children to experience heightened anxiety, and providers to fear for their own safety while trying to support immigrant families.
State Policies Matter for the Well-Being of Immigrant Parents & the Academic Achievement of Their Young Children
Kevin Ferreira van Leer, Caitlin Lombardi, Rachel Chazan-Cohen, Vanessa Esquivel, Prisila Isais, and Anne Berset; UConn Collaboratory on School & Child Health (May 2025)
This research brief reviews the impact of state policy exclusions on immigrant family well-being.
Understanding the Needs of Unaccompanied Immigrant Children Separated from their Parents during the “Zero Tolerance” Policy in the US: A Systematic Review of the Literature
Kristina Lovato, Daniel Hieu Thuan Bui, & Michelle Zaragoza; Children & Youth Services Review (June 2025)
This systematic review highlights mental health and social service outcomes of children forcibly separated from their parents during and following the Zero Tolerance Policy and examines barriers and facilitators in accessing social services upon their release from US detention facilities.
Recent Immigration Raids Increased Student Absences
Thomas S. Dee, Annenberg Institute at Brown University (June 2025)
This study examined the impact of recent immigration raids on daily student absences, finding particularly large increases in absences among the youngest students.
Immigration Enforcement at All Costs: How the Trump Administration is Endangering Unaccompanied Immigrant Children
The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights and National Immigrant Justice Center (May 25, 2025)
This explainer discusses how Congress and the administration have been undermining ORR’s ability to focus on child welfare, family reunification, and safety by tying ORR operations to immigration enforcement actions and provides recommendations on what can be done to support unaccompanied children.
