Exclusive Trump administration directs ice field agents to find unaccompanied immigrant children

Marisa Taylor, Ted Hesson and Kristina Cooke

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The Trump administration is expanding the president’s massive deportation efforts by instructing immigrant agents to enter the United States without parents, according to a Reuters internal memo.

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Memorandum outlines unprecedented push for immigrant children illegally crossing the border with unaccompanied minors. It specifies four phases of implementation, starting with the planned phase on January 27, although it does not provide a start date for law enforcement operations.

According to government data, 600,000 immigrant children have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border since 2019, as the number of arrested immigrants illegally reached record levels.

Immigration court data shows that deportation has been ordered within the same time frame, including more than 31,000 lost court hearings.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security and ICE did not respond to requests for comment on the memorandum and Trump administration plans.

During his first term, Trump proposed a “zero tolerance” policy, leading to the separation of immigrant children and parents at the border. The children were taken to children’s shelter run by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) of the government agency within the Ministry of Health and Human Services, while parents were detained or deported.

The separation of families, including infants and nursing mothers, has been subject to widespread international anger. Lee Gelernt, an attorney for the ACLU Leaders’ League, said Trump stopped the policy in 2018, although he may still be separated from his parents at best.

The program aims to ensure that children are not victims of trafficking or other forms of exploitation, and in addition to enforcing immigration laws, the memorandum is titled “The Joint Initiative for Unaccompanied Foreign Children on the Field Implementation.”

The memorandum said that if the deportation order stays on the condition of them, the children will be notified or deported.

In the memorandum, ICE said it had collected data from many sources from unaccompanied minors and divided it into three priority groups: “flight risk”, “public safety” and “border security.”

It directs agents to focus on children considered “flight risks” – including deportation hearings in cases of deportation law and to children who are not sponsors of blood relatives.

The agency uses several databases and government records to track targets.

DNA testing

Under the law, even children can remove immigrants who have exhausted their legal choices. But the U.S. government has limited resources and generally prioritizes arrests of adults with criminal records.

Unaccompanied children began to arrive in large numbers due to violence and economic instability in their own country, while U.S. immigration policies allowed them to enter and keep them frequently.

Most come from Central America and Mexico. Some moved to parents who have joined in the United States. Many people travel with their families or smugglers.

From ORR detention, children are released to sponsors, usually parents or relatives, as immigration authorities weigh their cases in the country.

Trump’s border tsar Tom Homan has repeatedly claimed that during Biden’s presidency, about 300,000 unaccompanied children were missing and at risk of trafficking and exploitation. Apart from the initial follow-up call, ORR has no obligation to track the children’s whereabouts after they leave their custody. Nowadays, many people are adults or live with their parents.

The memo said individual ice rink offices will determine “how best position, contact and fit immigration documents that fit individual goals when enforcing enforcement actions.”

Because children often live in families of unauthorized adults, their addresses can also help ICE increase their overall arrests.

During his first administration, Trump used the data collected to arrest unaccompanied children’s veterinary sponsors.

Since taking office on January 20, Trump has taken steps to strengthen scrutiny of sponsors.

According to guidelines released last week, which include requiring sponsors and adult family members to submit fingerprints for background checks.

Two sources familiar with the matter said the Trump administration has also expanded its access to ORR children and their sponsor databases.

Mellissa Harper, a current ice official, said Thursday at a staff meeting on Thursday that the agency plans to use DNA testing to build family relationships. It is not clear whether DNA tests are used only in cases that raise red flags or in conventional cases.

Harper said at the meeting that ICE is seeking 247,000 tips related to fraud, trafficking and smuggling by unaccompanied minors and referring the case to the FBI for further investigation.

(Reports by Marisa Taylor and Ted Hesson in Washington, D.C. and Kristina Cooke in San Francisco; Mary Milliken and Susanna Gold Editor of Suzanne Goldenberg