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Deportations of unaccompanied minors tripled under Trump, ProPublica finds

newsJul 6, 2026211,491

ProPublica's analysis found unaccompanied minors living in the U.S. are being detained and removed at about three times the rate they were during the final years of Donald Trump’s first presidency. The story centers on 18-year-old Elder Chavez, who was arrested after an Alabama traffic stop in December, placed in Winn Correctional Center and routed to ICE detention despite holding Special Immigrant Juvenile Status and having a petition for permanent residency. ProPublica’s review of ICE data shows the vast majority of the minors removed last year had no criminal history in the United States. A separate ProPublica analysis of court records found immigration judges issued more than 10,000 removal and voluntary departure orders each month for immigrant minors who arrived alone or with relatives, nearly four times the rate in Trump’s last term. Reporters say the increase follows administration moves to roll back policies that had given immigrant minors access to legal counsel and pathways to stay. The reporting links the higher detention and removal rates directly to the administration’s mass deportation campaign and to changes in how cases for minors are processed by enforcement and courts.

ProPublica
@propublica.org

NEW: A first-of-its-kind ProPublica analysis found that children who entered the U.S. by themselves are being detained and removed at about three times the rate they were during the final years of the first Trump presidency.

80445d ago
Mica Rosenberg
@micarosenberg.bsky.social

When 18-year-old Elder Chavez was pulled over for going 15 mph over the limit, he tried to show officers docs the US govt granted him after his parents abandoned him in Honduras and he crossed the border alone. He was put in ICE detention anyway. 🧵 1/ www.propublica.org/article/unac...

33145d ago
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