Children in immigration detention in the United States refers to the government practice of holding minors in federal custody during immigration proceedings. This includes both unaccompanied minors who arrive without a parent or guardian and children detained alongside family members. The practice has been governed since 1997 by the Flores Settlement Agreement, which requires that children be held in the least restrictive setting appropriate and released without unnecessary delay. The detention of immigrant children has been a recurring source of legal and political conflict, particularly during the 2018 family separation policy, which forcibly separated more than 5,500 children from their parents at the U.S.–Mexico border.
Background
Origins and the Flores litigation During the 1980s, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) had no specific standards for the detention of immigrant children. Minors were routinely strip-searched, held alongside unrelated adults, and denied access to education or recreation. INS policy permitted release only to a parent or legal guardian, excluding other relatives.
On July 11, 1985, attorneys from the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law filed a class action lawsuit, Jenny Lisette Flores v. Edwin Meese, in the United States District Court for the Central District of California. The lead plaintiff, Jenny Lisette Flores, was a 15-year-old Salvadoran girl who had been handcuffed, strip-searched, and placed in a juvenile detention center where she shared quarters with unrelated adults. The suit challenged the constitutionality of INS detention and release policies for unaccompanied minors.
The case reached the Supreme Court in 1993 as Reno v. Flores (507 U.S. 292), where a 7–2 majority held that the INS regulation did not facially violate the Due Process Clause. Justice Scalia wrote the majority opinion; Justices Stevens and Blackmun dissented. Justice O'Connor's concurrence acknowledged that detained children possessed "a constitutionally protected interest in freedom from institutional confinement." Despite winning on the constitutional question, the government continued negotiating, and on January 28, 1997, both sides signed the Flores Settlement Agreement.
Key provisions of the Flores Settlement The Flores Settlement Agreement (FSA) established a nationwide policy for the detention, release, and treatment of minors in INS custody. Its main requirements include:
Treatment of all minors "with dignity, respect and special concern for their particular vulnerability" Placement in the "least restrictive setting appropriate" to the child's age and needs Release "without unnecessary delay," following a preference order: parent, legal guardian, adult relative, adult designated by the parent, or a licensed program Transfer to non-secure, licensed facilities within 3 to 5 days of apprehension, extendable to 20 days during an influx Access to healthcare, education, recreation, and legal assistance
The agreement was intended to be temporary but has remained in force after federal courts blocked repeated government attempts to terminate it. In July 2015, U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee ruled that the FSA applies to both accompanied and unaccompanied children, and that the Obama administration's family detention expansion was a "material breach." The Ninth Circuit affirmed in July 2016.
Federal statutory framework The Homeland Security Act of 2002 (P.L. 107-296) abolished the INS and transferred responsibility for unaccompanied children from the INS Commissioner to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) within the Department of Health and Human Services, effective March 1, 2003. The statute defines an "unaccompanied alien child" as a child under 18 with no lawful immigration status and no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to provide care.
The William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (P.L. 110-457) added further protections, including a 72-hour transfer requirement from apprehending agencies to ORR, a best interest standard for custody decisions, access to counsel "to the greatest extent practicable," and the right for unaccompanied children to apply for asylum before USCIS rather than solely in removal proceedings.
Government agencies and custody process Three federal agencies handle the detention of immigrant children.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is typically the first point of contact, apprehending children at the border or ports of entry. CBP facilities are law enforcement installations not designed for children; agency standards state detainees should generally not be held longer than 72 hours.
For unaccompanied children, the process moves from CBP apprehension to notification of ORR within 48 hours, followed by transfer to ORR custody within 72 hours. ORR places children in a network of care provider facilities and works to identify a sponsor (usually a parent or relative) for release. Facility types range from shelters and foster care to staff-secure and secure placements, plus influx care facilities opened during surges. As of FY2024, ORR operated 240 facilities across 27 states and had provided care for over 800,000 unaccompanied children since 2003.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) oversees detention of family units. ICE has operated family residential centers including the Berks County Residential Center in Pennsylvania, the Karnes County Residential Center in Texas (operated by GEO Group), and the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas (operated by CoreCivic), the largest such facility with 2,400 beds. Children traveling with a parent or legal guardian are processed as family units; those traveling with grandparents, aunts, uncles, or adult siblings are classified as unaccompanied.
Policy developments
Obama administration Between FY2013 and FY2014, unaccompanied children apprehended at the border surged from 38,759 to 68,541, driven largely by gang violence in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. On May 12, 2014, DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson declared a Level IV condition of readiness.
The administration, which had ended family detention at the T. Don Hutto Residential Center in 2009, reversed course and expanded family detention capacity from roughly 90 to over 3,700 beds within a year. Three new facilities opened in 2014: the Artesia Family Residential Center in New Mexico (closed by late 2014 amid criticism), the Karnes County facility, and the Dilley facility. A coalition of 168 NGOs signed a letter opposing the expansion. Judge Gee's 2015 ruling forced a shift to shorter-term detention, generally under 20 days, followed by release with ankle monitors.
Trump administration first term
Zero tolerance policy and family separations
On April 6, 2018, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a "zero tolerance policy" directing federal prosecutors to criminally charge all individuals who crossed the border without authorization, including parents with children. Because children could not accompany parents to federal jail, they were reclassified as unaccompanied and placed in ORR custody, resulting in forced separations. A pilot program had been separating families in El Paso since mid-2017.
Between mid-April and June 20, 2018, over 2,500 children were separated. Including the pilot and later separations, the total reached an estimated 5,500. There was no centralized database linking parents to children, and hundreds of parents were deported without them. The DOJ Inspector General found in January 2021 that Sessions and senior officials were the "driving force" behind the policy and were aware it would cause separations.
After leaked audio of children crying for parents, bipartisan condemnation, and nationwide protests, President Trump signed Executive Order 13841 on June 20, 2018, directing DHS to keep families together. The order did not end the zero tolerance policy or address already-separated children. Six days later, Judge Dana Sabraw issued a nationwide preliminary injunction in Ms. L v. ICE ordering reunification.
Tornillo and Homestead facilities
The Tornillo tent city opened in June 2018 near El Paso, initially holding 360–400 children. It expanded repeatedly to 3,800 beds across 101 tents. At its peak roughly 2,800 teenagers were held there, and nearly 6,200 cycled through during seven months of operation. The facility cost approximately $775 per child per night and, because it sat on federal land, was exempt from state inspections. Over 2,100 staff had not undergone FBI fingerprint background checks after ORR waived the requirement. It closed in January 2019.
The Homestead facility in Homestead, Florida, reopened in February 2018 as the only for-profit migrant child detention center, operated by Comprehensive Health Services. Also on federal land and exempt from state inspections, it held up to 2,350 children at $775 per day. It closed permanently in October 2019.
Title 42 and Remain in Mexico The Migrant Protection Protocols ("Remain in Mexico"), announced in January 2019, returned over 71,000 non-Mexican asylum seekers to Mexican border cities to await hearings. At least 16,000 children, including nearly 500 infants, were sent to border cities where Human Rights Watch documented kidnapping incidents involving at least 38 children.
In March 2020, the administration invoked Title 42 public health authority to summarily expel migrants. Before the Biden administration exempted unaccompanied children in February 2021, CBP used Title 42 to expel nearly 16,000 unaccompanied children despite protections under the TVPRA.
Biden administration President Biden signed Executive Order 14011 on February 2, 2021, creating the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families. The DOJ formally rescinded zero tolerance. By February 2023, the Task Force had identified 3,924 separated children and reunified over 2,900; however, roughly 1,000 remained separated.
In FY2021, ORR received a record 122,731 unaccompanied children. The administration opened emergency intake sites at convention centers and military bases, including Fort Bliss, which peaked at 4,800 children. Numbers remained high through FY2023 (118,938 referrals) before declining.
In March 2021, ICE effectively ended long-term family detention, releasing families within 72 hours. By late 2021, ICE had stopped detaining families entirely.
A 2023 New York Times investigation revealed widespread child labor exploitation among released unaccompanied minors. A 2024 HHS Office of Inspector General report found gaps in sponsor vetting during the 2021 surge. In October 2023, the government reached a settlement in Ms. L v. ICE providing reunification services and setting standards to limit future separations for eight years.
Trump administration second term
The second Trump administration revived family detention at the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley and the Karnes County Residential Center in March 2025. According to an analysis by The Marshall Project, ICE held approximately 170 children per day on average under the second Trump administration, a sixfold increase from the approximately 25 per day during the final 16 months of the Biden administration. On some days, ICE held more than 400 children. At least 3,800 children had been booked into ICE custody between January and mid-October 2025, and at least 1,000 were held longer than the Flores-prescribed 20-day limit.
In May 2025, the administration moved to terminate the Flores Settlement entirely. Judge Gee denied the motion on August 16, 2025.