FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 15, 2026
CONTACT: press@acaciajustice.org
WASHINGTON—A new fact sheet, “The Data Behind a Due Process Crisis: New Estimates of Unaccompanied Children in Immigration Court,” shows an alarming increase in the number of unaccompanied children required to leave the country through removal orders or voluntary departures. This is a stark contrast from previous years prior to Trump’s second term in office.
Under the second Trump administration, the removal order rate for unaccompanied children has reached 48% in 2025, and 69% already in the first eight months of 2026. Comparatively, the removal order rate averaged 28% under the Biden administration from 2021 through 2024.
As the threats to independent and experienced legal representation for unaccompanied children have mounted, so has the removal rate of kids left without representation. In 2024, more than two-thirds of unrepresented unaccompanied children received removal orders. That number is now 88% in 2026 to date.
“Relief within the currently skewed immigration system is difficult for anyone trying to navigate it. When it comes to unrepresented unaccompanied children, almost nine out of ten were ordered removed in 2026 removing any chance of them finding temporary safety within our borders,” said Michael Danielson, Director of Research, Evaluation, and Data Analysis at Acacia Center for Justice. “Representation matters. More so at a time when the courts are being manipulated against vulnerable children for an anti-immigrant agenda.”
On July 31, 2026, the federal government let a contract with Acacia Center for Justice and its network of nearly 100 nonprofit legal organizations expire, bringing an end to the Unaccompanied Children Program which provided legal access to unaccompanied children. For two decades the network helped ensure that children who arrive in the United States without a parent or guardian do not have to navigate one of the most complicated legal systems in the country entirely on their own.
Acacia’s fact sheet titled “The Data Behind a Due Process Crisis: New Estimates of Unaccompanied Children in Immigration Court” is available here.
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