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The Independent
28-05-2025
- General
- The Independent
217 days and counting: Trump's rules slow the release of migrant children to their families
Dressed in a pink pullover, the 17-year-old girl rested her head in her hands, weighing her bleak options from the empty room of an shelter in Poughkeepsie, New York. During a video call into an immigration courtroom in Manhattan, she listened as a lawyer explained to a judge how new regulations imposed by President Donald Trump 's administration — for DNA testing, income verification and more — have hobbled efforts to reunite with her parents in the U.S. for more than 70 days. As the administration's aggressive efforts to curtail migration have taken shape, including unparalleled removals of men to prisons in other countries, migrant children are being separated for long periods from the relatives they had hoped to live with after crossing into the U.S. Under the Trump rules, migrant children have stayed in shelters an average of 217 days before being released last month to family members, according to new data from the Health and Human Services Department's Office of Refugee Resettlement. During the Biden administration, migrant children spent an average of 35 days in shelters before being released to relatives. 'Collectively, these policy changes have resulted in children across the country being separated from their loving families, while the government denies their release, unnecessarily prolonging their detention,' lawyers for the National Center for Youth Law argued in court documents submitted May 8. The Trump administration, however, has argued that the new rules will ensure the children are put in safe homes and prevent traffickers from illegally bringing children into the country. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. the health secretary, told lawmakers in Congress this month: 'Nobody gets a kid without showing that they are a family member.' The family situation for the 17-year-old, and her 14-year-old brother who came with her from the Dominican Republic, is complicated. Their parents, who were living apart, were already in the U.S. Their children were trying to reunite with them to leave behind a problematic living situation with a stepmother in their home country. After 70 days in detention, the teen girl seemed to wonder if she would ever get back to her mother or father in the U.S. If she agreed to leave America, she asked the judge, how quickly would she be sent back to her home country? 'Pretty soon,' the judge said, before adding: 'It doesn't feel nice to be in that shelter all the time.' The siblings, whom the Associated Press agreed not to identify at the request of their mother and because they are minors, are not alone. Thousands of children have made the trek from Guatemala, Haiti, Mexico and other countries, often alone on the promise of settling with a family member already in the U.S. They've faced longer waits in federal custody as officials perform DNA testing, verify family members' incomes and inspect homes before releasing the children. The new rules also require adults who sponsor children to provide U.S.-issued identification. The federal government only released 45 children to sponsors last month, even as more than 2,200 children remained in their custody. Child stays in shelter as Trump requires DNA testing Under the Biden administration, officials tried to release children to eligible adult sponsors within 30 days, reuniting many families quickly. But the approach also yielded errors, with some children being released to adults who forced them to work illegally, or to people who provided clearly false identification and addresses. Trump's Republican administration has said its requirements will prevent children from being placed in homes where they may be at risk for abuse or exploited for child labor. Officials are conducting a review of 65,000 'notices of concerns' that were submitted to the federal government involving thousands of children who were placed with adult sponsors since 2023. Already, the Justice Department indicted a man on allegations he enticed a 14-year-old girl to travel from Guatemala to the U.S., then falsely claimed she was his sister to gain custody as her sponsor. DNA testing and ID requirements for child protection are taking time Immigration advocacy groups have sued the Trump administration seeking to block the more rigorous requirements on behalf of parents and adult siblings who are waiting to bring migrant children into their homes. 'We have a lot of children stuck ... simply because they are awaiting DNA testing,' immigration lawyer Tatine Darker, of Church World Service, told the Manhattan judge as she sat next to the Dominican girl. Five other children appeared in court that day from shelters in New York and New England, all saying they experienced delays in being released to their relatives. The Trump administration's latest guidance on DNA testing says the process generally takes at least two weeks, when accounting for case review and shipping results. But some relatives have waited a month or longer just to get a test, said Molly Chew, a legal aide at Vecina. The organization is ending its work supporting guardians in reunification because of federal funding cuts and other legal and political challenges to juvenile immigration programs. DNA Diagnostics Centers, which is conducting the tests for the federal government, did not respond to a request for comment. Plaintiffs in the class-action lawsuit filed by the National Center for Youth Law have also cataloged long wait times and slow DNA results. One mother in Florida said she had been waiting at least a month just to get a DNA appointment, according to testimony submitted to the court. Another mother waited three weeks for results. But by the time those came through in April, the Trump administration introduced a new rule that required her to provide pay stubs she doesn't have. She filed bank statements instead. Her children were released 10 weeks after her application was submitted, according to court documents filed Tuesday. Many parents living in the U.S. without work authorization do not have income documents or U.S. identification documents, like visas or driver's licenses. The siblings being held at the Poughkeepsie shelter are in that conundrum, said Darker, the New York immigration lawyer. They crossed the U.S.-Mexico border in March with their 25-year-old sister and her children, who were quickly deported. Their mother said she moved to New Jersey a few years ago to earn money to support them. She couldn't meet the new income reporting requirements. Their father, also from the Dominican Republic, lives in Boston and agreed to take them. But the DNA testing process has taken weeks. The AP could not reach him for comment. She said her children are downcast and now simply want to return to the Dominican Republic. 'My children are going to return because they can't take it anymore,' the mother said in Spanish. She noted that her children will have been in the shelter three months on Sunday.
Bloomberg
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Lawsuit Challenges Trump Administration Policy on Migrant Children
Advocacy organizations are suing the Trump administration over policies that govern the release of unaccompanied immigrant children, arguing that the new rules keep minors in federal custody and away from family. The complaint was filed Thursday by the National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward on behalf of unaccompanied children currently held by the federal government. It seeks to stop new policies that have prolonged the time these children spend in federal custody. Among the plaintiffs are children who are being held despite having family members who are ready and able to care for them.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Migrant children languish in custody for months because of new federal rules, lawsuit says
Two advocacy groups are suing the Trump administration to halt the use of new rules they say have kept migrant children in federal custody and separated from their families for months as the children's mental health deteriorates. The National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on behalf of a Los Angeles-based immigrant advocacy group along with two siblings in California foster care, a teenager who gave birth while being detained and other children who crossed the Southern border without a legal custodian and have been in federal programs for prolonged periods. The suit names the Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Refugee Resettlement, which administers programs to care for the children until they are released to sponsors, often family, in the United States. HHS did not respond to The Times' request for comment. The Trump administration has implemented a raft of new security regulations since January that require families who want to reunify with children to provide proof of income and a U.S. identification and, in many cases, to take a DNA test. The policies can be daunting for undocumented family members, some of whom have no way of obtaining an American ID or don't have a regular paycheck. "The policy changes our clients are challenging do not increase children's safety but instead present insurmountable hurdles before families who want nothing more than to be together," said Mishan Wroe, an attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. "When a child is denied release to a parent solely because their only form of photo ID is a foreign passport, it's hard to see this as anything more than making life as hard as possible for the immigrant families who seek safety in our country." According to ORR data, the length of time children remain in custody has tripled — from 37 days in January to 112 days in March. Lawyers argue that the changes, which were rolled out over several months, upended families who had been on the precipice of reuniting with their children. Among those named in the lawsuit is a 17-year-old girl, identified as Angelica S. She crossed the border in November, and her sister began the process of sponsoring her, providing a passport and fingerprints. But because Angelica was pregnant and due in February, ORR would not release her until her child was vaccinated in April. By that time, new regulations had been implemented, and her sister, Deisy, could not obtain the required documentation. In March, among the changes, the administration stripped out rules that prohibited the collection and sharing of immigration status with law enforcement. It also rescinded a regulation that stops ORR from denying the release of a child based solely on a sponsor's legal status. Angelica's case manager, according to the lawsuit, asked her to find a new sponsor who had documents. But everyone she tapped was too afraid they would be reported to immigration. 'Being separated from my family during this time, with a new baby, has been really hard for me," said Angelica S., according to comments provided by lawyers. "My sister has done everything my case manager asked her to do. I don't understand why I can't live with her.' Angelica is now looking at raising her daughter in custody until she turns 18, when she will be released. By that time, her daughter will be 10 months old. In the past, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have picked up minors on their 18th birthday. Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
Washington Post
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Washington Post
Suit challenges new rules on children in federal custody who crossed into US
McALLEN, Texas — Two advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking the courts to halt new Trump Administration vetting procedures for reuniting children who crossed into the U.S. without their parents, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane. The lawsuit was filed by the National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward in federal court in the District of Columbia. It names the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Refugee Resettlement and seeks a return to prior reunification procedures.
The Independent
08-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Suit challenges new rules on children in federal custody who crossed into US
Two advocacy groups for migrants filed a federal lawsuit Thursday asking the courts to halt new Trump Administration vetting procedures for reuniting children who crossed into the U.S. without their parents, saying the changes are keeping families separated longer and are inhumane. The lawsuit was filed by the National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward in federal court in the District of Columbia. It names the U.S. Department of Homeland Security along with the federal Health and Human Services agency and its Office of Refugee Resettlement and seeks a return to prior reunification procedures. Critics note the government data shows the average time that the children are held in custody before release by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to their sponsors grew from 37 days in January to over 112 days by March. In February, the Trump administration changed the way it reviews sponsors who want to care for migrant children in government custody, whether parents or relatives of the minors -- or others. More changes followed in March and April when the government started to require identification or proof of income that only those legally present in the U.S. could acquire. Advocates for the families affected are asking a judge to declare the changes unlawful and return the agency to the policies in place before that. 'The government has dramatically increased the burden on families in a way that deeply undermines children's safety. These policy changes are part of a broader unraveling of a bi-partisan, decades-long commitment to support the best interests of unaccompanied children,' said Neha Desai, a managing director at National Center for Youth Law. Attorneys said they had heard from families who were moments away from receiving their children back when the rules were abruptly changed. Now, many say they are left waiting indefinitely. 'The administration has reversed years of established children's welfare protections and replaced them with fear, prolonged detention, and bureaucratic cruelty,' said Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward in a statement. One Mexican woman who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because of fears of deportation said she and her 8-year-old son were led to believe repeatedly that they would be reunited, only to find out the new policy changes would derail their plans. The mother, who arrived first across the border from Mexico, has noticed her son lose hope over the last 11 months, even refusing to unpack after the last time he thought his release from a government-run shelter was imminent. 'He's seen so many children who have come, leave, and he's stayed behind," said the mother, who wasn't part of the lawsuit. The Trump administration says it is increasing scrutiny of parents and other sponsors before giving them custody of their children who have crossed the border as unaccompanied minors. DHS and HHS did not immediately respond to emails from AP seeking comment in response to the lawsuit filed Thursday afternoon. Similar restrictions were imposed in 2018 under Trump's first presidency during the rollout of a zero-tolerance policy that separated families and required fingerprinting for all members of a household receiving a child. The administration scaled back the requirements after custody times increased.
