Since the beginning of 2025, nearly 600 immigrant children have been transferred by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to detention centers—more than during the previous four years combined.
The data, obtained prior to publication by the investigative organization, illustrate a dramatic resurgence of family separations within the country, far beyond the borders, according to a ProPublica investigation.
This trend marks a profound break from the system’s original purpose: offering temporary shelter to minors arriving alone in the United States. Now, children who have been settled for months—sometimes years—with their families are also ending up locked in these centers, often after simple traffic stops or routine administrative procedures.
According to government data analyzed by ProPublica, ICE placed approximately 600 children in the federal juvenile detention system in 2025, a level never reached since tracking began ten years ago.
This explosion represents more than the cumulative total from 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024—a development that immigrant rights advocates consider deeply disturbing.
ProPublica obtained detailed information on approximately 400 of these children:
- 160 cases were linked to legitimate child protection concerns (unaccompanied minors, risks of domestic violence, suspected trafficking, etc.).
- The majority—more than 240 minors—were arrested in situations where, according to former federal officials, ICE never intervened before.
These cases include adolescents arrested during immigration hearings, children present during the arrest of a parent or employer, and approximately 150 minors apprehended after traffic stops, primarily in Florida.
An Overwhelmed System: Children Now Stay Nearly Six Months in Detention
Detention conditions have only worsened.
While under the Biden administration, a child stayed an average of 1 month in a federal shelter before being placed with a relative, the average duration now reaches nearly 6 months, according to public data reviewed by ProPublica.
These extended detention periods may have psychological consequences. “What’s happening to children today is like a series of small zero-tolerance policies,” says Marion Donovan-Kaloust, director of legal services at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center, quoted by ProPublica. “All of this may create trauma.”
Specialized attorneys report an increase in observed cases of self-harm, anxiety attacks, and behavioral disorders.
ProPublica’s report notably highlights the case of Carlos, a 15-year-old Guatemalan youth arrested in June 2025 during a traffic stop in Florida.
He was living legally under the guardianship of his aunt, Imelda Carreto, a permanent resident who had been granted official custody of the young man. Yet, having been unable to present a document at the time of the stop, the teenager was transferred to a federal facility and held for more than two and a half months.
“Why are they keeping me here? I haven’t done anything wrong,” he confided to his aunt during a video call, according to testimony collected by ProPublica. Carlos’s case, far from isolated, now illustrates a systemic pattern.
Florida, Epicenter of Separations: Nearly 5,000 Police Officers Authorized to Enforce Federal Laws
ProPublica’s investigation details Florida’s key role in this new wave of child arrests.
Nearly 5,000 local and state police officers—including Fish and Wildlife Commission agents—have been authorized to act as federal immigration agents. Result: at least 47 children have been arrested in the state since April, primarily during traffic stops.
According to the journalists, several children were sent to federal centers even when a legally responsible adult was present, a practice that “could violate ICE’s own directives.”
The Trump administration defends these measures by invoking security concerns.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson maintains that enhanced screening aims to prevent children from being placed with unvetted adults, claiming that under Biden, some minors were placed with dangerous individuals.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which manages the shelters, also justifies the new requirements—DNA testing, financial verification of all household adults, widespread fingerprinting—explaining: “The new sponsorship requirements help protect children from traffickers and other dangerous individuals.” But for NGOs, these measures have the effect of frightening families and pushing otherwise eligible relatives to give up for fear of being arrested.
Nearly 140 Children Still Detained—and Nearly 100 Have Been Deported or Agreed to Leave
According to data compiled by ProPublica, approximately 140 children remain in federal centers, and nearly 100 minors have already been deported or signed documents to leave the country.
For the attorneys interviewed, the available information indicates a broader strategy aimed at hardening procedures, decreasing the likelihood families claim the children, and increasing deportations of children and adolescents. “They’re using children as bait,” says Marie Silver, an attorney at the National Immigrant Justice Center, quoted by ProPublica. “Then the children remain in the system.”
ProPublica journalists report that separations, once limited to the border, now occur throughout the country: in homes, businesses, courts, schools, or vehicles stopped for minor infractions.
For Jen Smyers, former official at the Office of Refugee Resettlement: “If the government is willing to go after these children—among the most vulnerable—and treat them this way, it sends a clear message: no one is safe.”
A Humanitarian Crisis That Could Further Escalate
As the Trump administration further strengthens cooperation with local forces and increases the number of detention centers, attorneys anticipate a possible escalation.
According to ProPublica, half the children sent to centers this year had already been through them—but this time, they’re staying much longer.
For many children, schooling, friendships, activities, and foster care placements are interrupted unexpectedly.
The network of approximately 170 federal shelters was never designed to detain children separated within the country.
Today, however, it has become one of the primary tools of American immigration policy, with considerable human consequences.
And for the 600 children affected this year, hopes of reuniting with their families may be diminishing.
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Priscilla Olivarez, Immigrant Legal Resource Center
By our newsroom, based on a ProPublica investigation.
