Carlos arrived at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement workplace in New Mexico in December, believing he was one step nearer to reuniting with his kids. By that time, his 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter had been in a federal shelter in Texas for almost a yr after crossing the border to be with him.
“I feel like I’m suffocating inside this shelter, trapped with no way out,” Carlos’ son mentioned, in accordance to one of many teenagers’ attorneys, when requested to describe how he felt after months on the Houston-area facility. “Every day, the same routine. Every day, feeling stuck. It makes me feel hopeless and terrified.”
During every day video calls, Carlos, who had non permanent protected standing, urged the siblings to be affected person, to belief the method. Federal officers had vetted Carlos earlier than he may very well be granted custody and advised him his case was full. He believed he would quickly be again with his kids, who, like him, had sought refuge from political violence in Venezuela.
An immigration officer known as Carlos on a Friday and requested him to attend a gathering at an ICE workplace the next Monday to talk about reunification with his kids. Once Carlos arrived, officers tried to drive him to signal paperwork he mentioned he didn’t perceive. When he refused, they stripped off his garments, seized his ID and belongings, and chained him by the neck, waist, and legs.
“They tricked me,” Carlos mentioned in a telephone name from an immigration detention heart in El Paso, Texas, the place he was held for a number of months. “They used my children to grab me,” he mentioned.
In reporting on the household’s story, KFF Health News reviewed court docket paperwork, spoke with the household’s immigration attorneys, interviewed Carlos, and reviewed statements from his kids, translated from Spanish. Carlos is a pseudonym, getting used on the request of attorneys involved that talking out might jeopardize Carlos’ immigration case or additional delay his reunion with his household.
Since 2003, the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement has cared for immigrant kids beneath 18 who arrive within the nation with out their dad and mom, usually fleeing violence, abuse, or trafficking. The workplace, which in February had greater than 2,300 kids in shelters or with foster households throughout the nation, is meant to promptly launch them to vetted caregivers, usually dad and mom or different members of the family already residing within the nation.
Congress positioned this accountability with the well being company over 20 years in the past to prioritize the well-being of unaccompanied kids and separate their care from immigration enforcement priorities.
Now the second Trump administration is utilizing migrant kids held by the resettlement workplace to lure their dad and mom, akin to Carlos, whether or not or not they’ve a felony file. A KFF Health News investigation discovered the resettlement workplace, headed by a former ICE official, coordinates with the Department of Homeland Security to arrest folks in search of custody of migrant kids.
Arrest paperwork present Homeland Security Investigations, the arm of the company that usually focuses on organized criminals and traffickers, will interview dad and mom or different caregivers then arrest them if they’re within the nation illegally. Before Donald Trump returned to the White House, the resettlement workplace prohibited knowledge sharing and collaboration with immigration enforcement, and it didn’t deny caregivers custody of youngsters solely due to their immigration standing. Those restrictions were rescinded final yr.
It’s unclear precisely what number of caregivers have been baited into arrest. LAist obtained data indicating greater than 100 have been arrested whereas attempting to get their kids out of detention, however KFF Health News couldn’t independently confirm that quantity with federal businesses.
Since February, the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, and Justice Department haven’t responded to questions on caregiver arrests. Prior to leaving DHS final month, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin mentioned the administration protects kids from being launched to individuals who shouldn’t take care of them. Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesperson, referred questions associated to immigration enforcement to DHS.
At the identical time, the resettlement workplace has enacted new rules that make it tougher for caregivers to acquire custody of unaccompanied kids. These embrace narrowing the vary of accepted paperwork, requiring fingerprint-based background checks for each grownup within the dwelling and backup caregivers, and requiring in-person appointments to confirm identification paperwork, generally with ICE brokers current. The necessities hold “children safe from traffickers and other bad, dangerous people,” Nixon mentioned.
As of January, the company had detained no less than 300 kids already positioned with vetted sponsors and requested their caregivers to reapply, in accordance to the National Center for Youth Law and the Democracy Forward Foundation. The advocacy teams filed a Feb. 23 lawsuit calling these actions “a quieter, new form of family separation.”
Dulce, a Guatemalan mom in Virginia, mentioned her 8-year-old son was despatched to a authorities shelter after he was detained throughout a site visitors cease final summer time whereas visiting members of the family in a special state.
At first, Dulce anticipated to get her son again inside days — she had handed the federal government’s sponsorship necessities in 2024 and was reunited with him three weeks after he first crossed the border. But resettlement company officers requested her to repeat the complete course of and resubmit paperwork, Dulce mentioned. It took eight months to get him again.
Dulce is a pseudonym getting used at her request as a result of she fears talking out might get her deported.
At one level, Dulce was advised to attend an interview at an ICE workplace to present her identification as a part of the method of reuniting with her son. She refused out of worry that she too could be detained, as a result of she doesn’t have authorized standing. She believes ICE brokers visited her dwelling at one level.
“I stopped going home,” Dulce mentioned. “I lived with some of my friends for days.”
Even although she lived simply 45 minutes away, Dulce was allowed to go to her son solely twice a month.
Until not too long ago, most unaccompanied kids landed in authorities custody after being detained on the border. But border crossings began to fall in 2024, and the variety of folks coming to the U.S. has dropped precipitously in President Trump’s second time period.
Now, lots of of kids have been taken to authorities shelters after being swept up contained in the nation, usually throughout immigration raids or site visitors stops, in accordance to the advocates’ lawsuit. Many had been already residing with relations, together with guardians already vetted by the resettlement company.
Releases have grinded almost to a halt. According to the resettlement workplace, kids in its custody stayed in authorities shelters or foster take care of a median of 1 month in 2024. As of February, that had jumped to greater than half a yr.
When kids do get launched, it’s usually solely after their attorneys file a lawsuit in federal court docket difficult their detention as unconstitutional.
Authorities launched Dulce’s son to her in February after the boy’s attorneys filed such a petition. Dulce mentioned she’s relieved to have him again however nonetheless anxious that ICE might present up at their home.
During Trump’s first time period, his administration was criticized for losing track of youngsters who had been launched from custody. President Joe Biden was blamed for a way his administration processed a surge of unaccompanied kids that peaked in 2021 with about 22,000 within the resettlement workplace’s custody. Though most youngsters had been positioned with reliable sponsors, some had been positioned with individuals who hadn’t cleared safety checks, placing them liable to exploitation.
The Trump administration says it’s checking on these children’s welfare, and the Justice Department has prosecuted child trafficking cases. On March 1, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who is ready to depart her function on the end of the month, touted a multi-agency effort, together with the resettlement workplace, that DHS mentioned had tracked down 145,000 unaccompanied kids who had been positioned with caregivers throughout Biden’s time period.
Yet inside HHS studies about that initiative obtained by KFF Health News present that just about 11,800 of these migrant kids and almost 500 of their caregivers had been arrested as of Jan. 29. Only 125 of these migrant kids and 55 of these caregivers had been arrested for alleged felony exercise, suggesting the bulk had been for immigration violations.
HHS referred questions in regards to the figures within the studies to DHS, which didn’t reply to requests for remark in regards to the knowledge. However, Michelle Brané, who was a DHS official within the Biden administration, mentioned the figures present that many of the arrests had been to detain and deport migrants. Previously, NCS reported the administration focused dad and mom and caregivers who had paid for kids to cross the border, attempting to levy smuggling costs towards them.
“They have really dropped that pretense in a lot of ways, and they are going for anyone openly,” Brané mentioned. “These numbers clearly reflect that this is not about public safety or about safety of the children.”
Carlos left Venezuela in 2022 due to demise threats and, like 1000’s of others fleeing that nation, was granted what’s known as non permanent protected standing beneath the Biden administration. That safety was later rescinded for many Venezuelans by the Trump administration.
In January 2025, days earlier than Trump was sworn in for his second time period, Carlos’ kids crossed the border from Mexico to the U.S., turned themselves over to border authorities, and had been instantly positioned within the resettlement company’s custody. Carlos spent months submitting paperwork to reunite with them. He mentioned he’s their solely father or mother, as a result of their mom left after they had been toddlers.
Officials visited his dwelling twice and decided he was match to take care of them, in accordance to court docket paperwork petitioning for his launch from detention. He handed DNA testing, proving he’s the organic father, considered one of his attorneys mentioned. His arrest paperwork present he has “no criminal history.” In July, Carlos was advised his reunification case was full and being despatched for approval. But then, with little clarification, the case was placed on maintain.
Before his arrest by ICE, Carlos mentioned, he drove 14 hours every method from his dwelling to go to his kids. Once there, he might see them for just one hour. When he was in detention, he mentioned, he spoke to them about each two weeks in fast, monitored telephone calls.
He’s attempting to keep hopeful, but it surely’s laborious.
According to paperwork accomplished by ICE officers throughout his arrest and submitted in his court docket case, Carlos was arrested beneath an initiative known as Operation Guardian Trace, which requires immigration officers to detain potential caregivers if they’re within the nation with out authorized authorization and suggest that they be deported.
“This operation is designed to force parents to make an impossible choice between reuniting with their children and seeking safety,” mentioned considered one of Carlos’ attorneys, Chiqui Sanchez Kennedy of the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project, a nonprofit that helps low-income immigrants.
In March, a federal choose mentioned officers had unlawfully detained Carlos and he was launched on bond.
But his kids nonetheless face an unsure future for now. Government shelters usually lack ample sources, research shows, and social employees say prolonged stays in these amenities can lead to further trauma.
“Not only is it bad, full stop, but the longer you’re there, the worse it gets,” mentioned Jonathan Beier, affiliate director of analysis and analysis for the Acacia Center for Justice’s Unaccompanied Children Program, which coordinates authorized providers for unaccompanied minors.
Carlos’ kids is also despatched again to the nation they fled. Because of his detention, Carlos could have to redo a lot of the method to reunite with them, in accordance to an lawyer for the youngsters, Alexa Sendukas, additionally with the Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project.
In statements shared by way of Sendukas, Carlos’ daughter mentioned she now not desires to be round others and spends more often than not in her room. His son, now 15, described having panic assaults and feeling that he’s lacking out on life, whether or not it’s the alternatives he longs for — to be taught English, to research science — or watching basketball with his household.
“I remember when I first arrived at this shelter, I was so hopeful and had faith that I would be reunited with my dad soon,” he mentioned.
Carlos’ daughter spent the day crying in mattress when the siblings discovered their father had been detained. For days, they didn’t know the place he was. Now, they worry the one method out is thru adoption or foster care.
“I am afraid,” she mentioned. “I’m going to wait for my dad forever.”
KFF Health News is a nationwide newsroom that produces in-depth journalism about well being points and is among the core working packages at KFF — the impartial supply for well being coverage analysis, polling, and journalism.