1,900 Kids Stuck in Immigration Custody: Lawyers Fight Back

As of the end of August 2026, around 1,900 children — from babies to teenagers — were held under federal government control across the United States, according to data shared with The Guardian. They had spent an average of 183 days, roughly six months, in shelters or long-term foster care run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), the agency inside the Department of Health and Human Services responsible for the welfare of unaccompanied immigrant children. Many of these kids have family members already living in the US who are waiting, and legally cleared, to take them home.

What Is Keeping These Children Locked Up?

During the Trump administration's second term, officials introduced new restrictions that make it harder — and in some states effectively impossible — for children to be released to sponsors. The administration also removed privacy protections for undocumented sponsors, allowing ORR to share their information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP). Some parents have been detained at the very appointments designed to complete the sponsorship process. By the end of July, at least 65 children with active immigration court cases had been held by ORR for over a year, according to researchers at bklg.org, a New York-based immigration data platform. At the same time, the administration defunded these children's existing attorneys and scheduled accelerated immigration hearings where government lawyers are pushing for their removal from the US before other legal protections can be applied.

Experts describe the conditions inside ORR shelters as the equivalent of detention. "Children are not allowed to leave. They have no contact with people outside of the place where they live," said Becky Wolozin, senior attorney at the National Center for Youth Law, which is co-managing the new legal effort. Ryan Matlow, a clinical associate professor at Stanford Medicine at Stanford University, warned that being held against their will "creates the conditions for trauma and a lasting post traumatic stress response." In Texas and Florida, some of these facilities are unlicensed. A former ORR shelter in Brownsville, Texas — now closed — was housed in a repurposed Walmart Supercenter.

To fight back, more than 50 legal organizations, firms, and law offices have joined what they are calling the Children's Due Process Project. Attorneys are filing habeas corpus petitions — a legal procedure that forces the government to justify in court why it is holding someone, or release them — on a case-by-case basis in federal district courts. These courts are part of the independent judiciary, separate from immigration courts, which fall under the Department of Justice. The approach is already producing results. "Judges are basically asking, like, 'What are you doing? This child should be with their family,'" Wolozin told The Guardian. Managing organizations include the Acacia Center for Justice in Washington DC, The Door in New York, and the Immigration and Human Rights Clinic at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

What to Do

• If you are a sponsor waiting for a child in ORR custody, contact a nonprofit immigration legal organization immediately. Groups like the Acacia Center for Justice, the National Center for Youth Law, or The Door may be able to connect you with a pro bono attorney through the Children's Due Process Project.
• Do not attend a sponsorship appointment without first speaking to an immigration lawyer. The administration has detained undocumented sponsors at these appointments — knowing your rights before you go can protect both you and the child.
• If the child has an upcoming immigration court hearing, ask an attorney whether the accelerated schedule can be challenged. Lawyers in this project are arguing that rushed hearings violate children's due process rights.
• Document everything: dates of ORR communications, sponsor application submissions, and any delays. This record can support a habeas corpus petition if a lawyer decides to file one.

What to do, step by step — see our guide “Deportation Defense”.