A federal judge in Washington, DC, issued a temporary restraining order on Saturday, halting the Trump administration’s policy of detaining migrant children in adult ICE facilities once they turn 18. The ruling came as advocates reported that several transfers were scheduled for the weekend, preventing the automatic placement of unaccompanied minors in adult detention upon reaching adulthood. US District Judge Rudolph Contreras ruled that such transfers violated a 2021 court order barring the practice and directed ICE not to detain any unaccompanied child who becomes an adult in ICE facilities. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not immediately comment on the ruling.
The attempt to detain new adult migrants forms part of a broader debate over the treatment of unaccompanied minors at the US border. Officials have reportedly offered $2,500 to migrant children aged 14 and older to incentivize voluntary return to their home countries. Last month, a separate federal judge blocked deportations of Guatemalan minors traveling alone, stopping the removal process even after some had been placed on planes. Advocates argue these measures are part of a larger effort to pressure immigrant youths to abandon their claims for protection in the United States. Michelle Lapointe of the American Immigration Council stated that such actions collectively aim to coerce immigrant youth into giving up their right to seek protection, and her organization was among those filing the emergency request leading to Judge Contreras’s ruling.
Since October 2021, US border authorities have arrested unaccompanied children over 400,000 times. Under a 2008 law, these minors must appear before an immigration judge before potentially returned to their home country. Increased scrutiny by the Trump administration, including fingerprinting, DNA testing, and home visits, has extended the average stay of children in government shelters, which was 171 days as of July, down from 217 days in April but far above the 37-day average at the start of Trump’s presidency. Additionally, immigration officers have increasingly arrested parents during the summer, meaning children remain in government custody longer before being released to families in the US to pursue their immigration cases.
