In a new research article, “Eroding Protections, Expanding Enforcement: Transformations in the Policies and Practices Governing the Treatment of Unaccompanied Children in the United States under the Second Trump Administration” in the Journal on Migration and Human Security, Acacia researchers and practitioners discuss three key areas in which children’s rights and the laws that aim to protect them have been consistently undermined.
First, the article demonstrates how sponsor vetting has become increasingly cumbersome and invasive, hindering children’s ability to be expeditiously released from government custody and ballooning the length of time children spend in congregate care facilities. While federal officials and anti-immigrant pundits have used the false claim that hundreds of thousands of children were “lost” during the Biden administration to justify these policies, child welfare experts consistently report that these requirements are not necessary to ensure children’s wellbeing and that the harms children experience due to prolonged detention are deep and lasting.
Secondly, the article examines the ways in which formal and informal policy shifts and attacks on federal contracts funding unaccompanied children’s legal services have created barriers to children’s ability to effectively obtain legal counsel and exercise their due process rights. For example, policies that aimed to ensure that judges presiding over children’s cases were specifically trained to engage children in developmentally appropriate ways have been rescinded, and observers have since reported judges pressuring unrepresented children to move forward with their cases despite lacking representation and, in one instance, going so far as to admonish a child for not working harder to find an attorney.
Finally, the article traces efforts to dismantle legal protections for children with approved Special Immigrant Juvenile Status petitions (SIJS). SIJS-approved youth have a court order recognizing that it is not in their best interest to be deported and making them eligible to apply for a green card. However, visa backlogs mean that these young people often exist in legal limbo for years as they wait for a visa to become available. Prior administrations recognized the challenges this timeline imposed and considered SIJS approved youth for deferred action in their immigration cases and provided access to work authorization. These policies provided critical stability for youth, but since January 2025 the administration has stripped SIJS-approved youth of these protections and otherwise targeted them for deportation, creating increased vulnerability for children recognized as being particularly at-risk if deported.
Since research for this article was completed in early 2026, there have been many developments affecting unaccompanied children. These developments have, in many cases, re-affirmed that unaccompanied children are specifically being targeted by the second Trump Administration. For example, we have seen various efforts to fast-track children’s immigration proceedings, effectively limiting their ability to fully exercise their due process rights. This has taken the form of mega master calendar hearings where large numbers of children are given short notice to appear in court, resulting in a massive increase in the number of in absentia removal orders for unaccompanied children. Another example is the expediting of children’s asylum interviews before USCIS. And perhaps the most egregious are reports of internal policies calling for fast-tracking the deportations of abused and trafficked children. These practices that aim to push children through the immigration system as quickly as possible serve the purpose of increasing deportation numbers while limiting the degree to which children can pursue all legal options available to them.
At the same time, the last few months have also demonstrated the unwavering commitment advocates and legal service providers across the country have to unaccompanied children and their due process rights. Providers and advocates have continued to show up for children, continually speaking out in court filings and the media to draw attention to the government’s ongoing attempt to skirt its responsibility to provide legal services as outlined in the TVPRA. Acacia will continue to track and document these struggles as we work to ensure that all children have access to high-quality, child-friendly legal services and zealous representation.
Read an open source version of the article here.
