A new report from the Brookings Institution estimates that more than 145,000 US citizen children have experienced the detention of at least one parent since the start of Donald Trump's second administration. This mass deportation campaign, heavily influenced by immigration czar Stephen Miller, has torn apart families on an unprecedented scale.
Key Findings of the Report
The nonpartisan thinktank conducted a statistical analysis of approximately 60,000 people currently in detention and 400,000 individuals placed into ICE detention from interior arrests since Trump's second term began. The report estimates that over 22,000 children experienced the detention of all co-resident parents, and more than 53,000 citizen children with a detained parent are under the age of six.
Lack of Government Oversight
The report highlights a critical gap in protecting these children. 'The bottom line is that there is no systematic approach to protecting the children of those detained by ICE,' the Brookings report states. There is 'no government entity … responsible for their wellbeing,' and inadequate record-keeping means little is known about what happens to these children.
Comparison with Previous Administrations
While Trump is not the first president to detain or deport parents of US citizen minors, his administration is doing so at a much faster rate and with greater cruelty. A ProPublica analysis found that ICE arrests of parents doubled in the first seven months of Trump's second term compared to the Biden administration, and mothers are being more aggressively targeted, with about four times as many moms of US citizen children deported per day.
Changes in Policy Guidelines
The guidelines for immigration officers have also shifted. The former Parental Interests Directive has been renamed the Detained Parents Directive, and its preamble, which once instructed agents to handle immigrant parents in a 'humane' manner, has been stripped of that word.
Trauma and Expert Concerns
Experts warn of immense trauma for these children. Kelly Kribs, an attorney at the Young Center, described the current separation crisis as even more insidious than the family separation policy of Trump's first term. 'It's leading to all the same forms of trauma that we saw unfold back in 2018,' Kribs said. 'But the speed and the scale of the separations now is at a level we've never seen before.'
Stephen Miller, who played a key role in implementing the 'zero tolerance' border policy that separated over 5,000 children from their parents in 2018, remains unapologetic. His wife, Katie Miller, has also expressed lack of compassion, stating in 2018 that having her own children did not change her views on family separation.
