President Trump’s Attacks on Children

Trump Administration issues a stop-work order for all legal services funded through the Unaccompanied Children Program, effectively stopping crucial legal services for thousands of unaccompanied children. The stop-work order is reversed three days later after the move sparked public outcry.

• ACACIA CENTER FOR JUSTICE (opens in a new window)
• ASSOCIATED PRESS (opens in a new window)

DOJ drops 2024 lawsuit against ORR facility provider Southwest Key Programs. The lawsuit alleged that, between 2015 and 2023, Southwest Key employees sexually abused children as young as five and engaged in other egregious sexual misconduct against children held in ORR custody across three different states.

• THE TEXAS TRIBUNE (opens in a new window)

Trump Administration terminates most of the Unaccompanied Children Program, cutting off crucial legal services for thousands of unaccompanied children for the second time in two months.

• ACACIA CENTER FOR JUSTICE (opens in a new window)
• NEW YORK TIMES (opens in a new window)

Updates to federal regulations remove provisions precluding ORR from sharing immigration status of unaccompanied children's sponsors with immigration enforcement officials.

• FEDERAL REGISTER (opens in a new window)

Federal judge in CLSEPA v. HHS grants a Temporary Restraining Order preventing the federal government from withholding funding for legal services for unaccompanied children, but the government refuses to comply.

• COURTLISTENER.COM (opens in a new window)

Federal judge in CLSEPA v. HHS grants a Preliminary Injunction preventing the federal government from withholding funding for legal services for unaccompanied children. This time, the government complies with the injunction and reinstates the Unaccompanied Children Program contract.

• COURTLISTENER.COM (opens in a new window)

The federal government begins scheduling unaccompanied children for their first hearings in immigration court while the children are still in ORR custody. Previously, the government generally waited until children reunified with their sponsors before scheduling their first hearing date.

• SUPPORTKIND.ORG (opens in a new window)
• SUPPORTKIND.ORG (opens in a new window)

In direct violation of federal law, CBP begins asking some newly arrived unaccompanied children whether they want to 'self-deport.'

• CNN POLITICS (opens in a new window)

Over Labor Day weekend, DHS sends a contractor to ORR facilities to remove children from their beds in the middle of the night to effectuate a mass deportation of children from Guatemala. As children are loaded onto planes, a federal judge in LGML v. Noem holds an emergency hearing and issues an emergency Temporary Restraining Order stopping the flights.

• NPR (opens in a new window)
• ACACIA CENTER FOR JUSTICE (opens in a new window)

ICE issues updated guidance requiring children who turn 18 while in ORR custody to be transferred to ICE custody. A federal judge in Ramirez v. ICE orders the government to stop violating a permanent injunction prohibiting the automatic transfer of detained children to ICE when they turn 18.

• USCOURTS.DCD (opens in a new window)

Children receive letters urging them to relinquish their legal cases and self-deport in exchange for payments.

• THE WASHINGTON POST (opens in a new window)

Unaccompanied children begin receiving letters saying they are subject to exorbitant fines for crossing the border.

• MLIVE.COM (opens in a new window)

ORR essentially stops releasing unaccompanied children to their sponsors, resulting in children facing increasingly long lengths of stay in ORR custody. In June 2026, Finance Ranking Member Ron Wyden expands his investigation of HHS' handling of unaccompanied children in ORR care following reports of abuse in federally-contracted facilities and a five-fold increase in detention times since the administration took office.

• HOUSE.GOV (opens in a new window)
• SENATE.GOV (opens in a new window)

ICE announces its plan to open a call center to track unaccompanied children and later awards a one-year contract in June 2026.

• TENNESSEE LOOKOUT (opens in a new window)

DOJ moves to terminate Perez-Funez v. INS, a 40-year-old consent decree protecting unaccompanied children's rights in immigration custody.

• NILC.ORG (opens in a new window)

CBP begins distributing a letter to unaccompanied children threatening them with prolonged detention and the arrest and deportation of their prospective sponsors if the children choose to pursue their legal rights. On April 6, 2026, a federal judge issues a permanent injunction requiring DHS to stop sending the letter.

• COURT LISTENER

Report emerges that ORR began sending all pregnant unaccompanied children to a facility in San Benito, Texas with inadequate access to quality healthcare.

• KQED (opens in a new window)

Numerous reports emerge of immigration enforcement officials using unaccompanied children in ORR custody to lure and detain non-citizen sponsors. It later emerges that ORR also shared more than 460,000 'leads' with ICE about unaccompanied children, their sponsors, and additional household members.

• KFF HEALTH NEWS (opens in a new window)
• SENATE.GOV (opens in a new window)
• REUTERS (opens in a new window)

Large numbers of immigration judges issue removal orders for children who only have pending or approved Special Immigrant Juvenile Status applications. On July 29, 2026, attorneys file a lawsuit on behalf of unaccompanied children who survived trafficking, abuse, or abandonment and have pending applications for legal relief, yet were swiftly ordered removed.

• NBC NEWS (opens in a new window)
• PROPUBLICA (opens in a new window)

ORR begins refusing to pay invoices for completed legal services for unaccompanied children unless Acacia turns over privileged and confidential information about children's legal cases.

• COURT LISTENER (opens in a new window)

USCIS announces it will cease its automatic consideration of grants of deferred action to unaccompanied children with Special Immigrant Juvenile Status on May 10, 2026.

• USCIS.GOV (opens in a new window)

Reports emerge of courts around the country speeding up proceedings for unaccompanied children, with cases being advanced by several months or years. Reports indicate an intended goal of completing all cases by the end of the calendar year.

• CNN POLITICS (opens in a new window)

First reports emerge of a new form used in Texas to waive children's rights to a 10-day period prior to appearing before an immigration judge.

First reports of "mega master calendar hearings" in which over 100 people are scheduled for immigration court hearings on the same docket, emerge across the country.

• NPR (opens in a new window)

ICE officers conduct unannounced visits to the offices of legal service providers that represent unaccompanied children.

• SENATE.GOV (opens in a new window)
• AP NEWS (opens in a new window)

USCIS increasingly expedites the scheduling of asylum interviews for unaccompanied children.

• NYSFOCUS (opens in a new window)

HHS proposes changing the verification process for the sponsors of unaccompanied children and invasive examining of unaccompanied children for 'gang-related' tattoos.

• FEDERAL REGISTER (opens in a new window)

Legal service providers report massive increases in the number of asylum interviews scheduled for their unaccompanied children clients in a short period of time, in conjunction with expedited hearing schedules in immigration court, causing capacity concerns at a time when funding for services is ending.

• THE NEW YORK TIMES (opens in a new window)
• BLOOMBERG LAW (opens in a new window)

HHS attempts to award hundreds of millions of dollars in funding via no-bid contracts to organizations with ties to the administration that have no experience in representing unaccompanied children.

• NPR (opens in a new window)

ORR outlines plan to open 'emergency influx facilities' that would hold up to 3,000 unaccompanied children despite ample capacity at its existing facilities and child welfare concerns that surround such large facilities.

• THE INDEPENDENT (opens in a new window)