The Trump administration has significantly rolled back policies that previously provided immigrant minors with access to legal counsel and protection from deportation while their cases were processed. A first-of-its-kind analysis of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data by ProPublica found that unaccompanied minors living in the United States are now being detained and removed at about three times the rate seen during the final years of Trump's first presidency.
Immigration courts have issued over 10,000 removal and voluntary departure orders each month for immigrant minors, nearly four times the rate during Trump's last term. This surge in deportations reflects a broader rollback of protections for these vulnerable youths.
One example is 18-year-old Elder Chavez, who was detained at the Winn Correctional Center in Louisiana after being stopped by Alabama state police for speeding and driving without a license. Chavez had been granted Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJ) because he was abandoned as a toddler in Honduras and came to the U.S. alone at age 14.
Michael Lukens, executive director of the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, described the situation as retraumatizing for these children, stating, “These children have been through incredibly harrowing and traumatic experiences. And ICE is retraumatizing them.”
Olivia Cassin, a former immigration judge overseeing juvenile dockets in New York, noted that before Trump’s return to office, there was widespread recognition that immigrant minors’ SIJ and asylum petitions required time to navigate a backlogged system.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson defended the administration’s approach, saying Trump is “undoing the damage Biden did.” However, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson declined to verify the accuracy of ProPublica’s data analysis, which was based on Freedom of Information Act requests and validated by outside experts.
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