Child detentions surge under Trump deportation campaign: Report

The number of children held in US immigration detention has risen sharply amid President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, with hundreds now confined in a large Texas facility where families report deteriorating conditions.

According to data emerging from the Deportation Data Project on Saturday, an average of 175 children per day were held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention in 2024, compared with about 25 per day at the end of the Biden administration.

Nearly all detained families are processed through the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. The facility was closed in 2024 under the previous administration and later reopened. Since reopening, around 3,500 adults and children have cycled through the center. Roughly 500 children are currently held there alongside 450 parents, according to RAICES, a nonprofit providing legal services at the site.

Long-term residents among those detained

Unlike earlier periods when families detained were largely recent border arrivals, many of the children now held at Dilley had been living in the United States and attending school.

Cases cited include a seven-year-old detained with her parents outside a hospital emergency room in Oregon, a five-year-old taken from a Chicago laundromat, and a 13-year-old Guatemalan student detained during a routine ICE check-in with his mother.

“There are many, many Liams,” Elora Mukherjee, a Columbia Law School professor, who directs the school’s immigration clinic, told The New York Times, referencing five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos, who was detained while wearing his Spiderman backpack on his way home from school in Minneapolis.

Education concerns at Dilley facility

Families and attorneys say conditions at the Dilley center differ significantly from promotional descriptions by CoreCivic, the private prison company that operates the facility.

Children reportedly receive one hour of schooling per day, below standards set by a 1997 settlement agreement requiring age-appropriate instruction in subjects including science, math, and reading. Mixed-age classes often rely on basic worksheets or coloring tasks repeated over several weeks.

Christian Rubi, 16, who had been studying chemistry and geometry in San Antonio before being detained, said high school students were given American flag coloring sheets. “They don't teach you anything,” he told The Times, adding that he had stopped attending classes.

Health and psychological toll

Families report lights remaining on overnight, limited access to drinking water, and shared sleeping quarters. Children have reportedly lost weight and faced health concerns, including two confirmed measles cases.

Mental health effects have also been described as severe. Christian, who has been detained for more than four months, said he experienced frequent anxiety attacks. “I start crying, shaking,” he said. “I just want to get out of here. It's hell.”

Legal battle over detention standards

The administration is seeking to end the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, which established nationwide standards for the treatment of detained children. The agreement requires that minors be released without unnecessary delay, generally held no longer than about 20 days, and provided age-appropriate education and care in licensed facilities.

Officials argue the settlement encourages unlawful border crossings and weakens immigration enforcement. The Department of Homeland Security has said that “being in detention is a choice,” offering families $2,600 and free flights for voluntary departure.

Many families decline the offer, citing pending asylum claims, established lives in the United States, or fears of returning to their home countries.

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