{"id":31,"date":"2026-05-19T19:07:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:07:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=31"},"modified":"2026-05-19T19:07:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-19T19:07:55","slug":"ice-separated-145000-children-from-their-parents-since-2025-study-estimates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=31","title":{"rendered":"ICE Separated 145,000 Children From Their Parents Since 2025, Study Estimates"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Read more Trump Adviser Loomer Peddles Falsehoods About San Diego Mosque Shooting Victims<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Tens of thousands of children in the U.S. have had a parent detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since the start of Trump\u2019s second term, according to a new report released by the Brookings Institution on Monday.<\/p>\n

Brookings estimates that over 145,000 children who are U.S. citizens have had at least one of their parents booked into detention since Trump reentered the White House in January 2025. Over 22,000 of these children have had both of their live-in parents detained, the study estimates. <\/p>\n

This number is far greater than previously understood. In March, ProPublica <\/em>estimated that ICE had detained parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children in the first seven months of Trump\u2019s second term \u2014 nearly 50 children a day \u2014 and that the number could have reached about 22,000 by March. But this estimate used ICE data, which Brookings states is undercounting the actual numbers. <\/p>\n

In September 2025, ICE reported a total of 18,277 parents detained who had U.S. citizen children, which Brookings states is certainly an undercount. While ICE regulations require that the agency ask detainees if they have children, the study says that in practice, this regularly does not happen, and some detainees avoid mentioning their children out of fear of what might happen to them or to others in their network. <\/p>\n

Brookings instead matched detainees to individuals surveyed in the American Community Survey (ACS), a national household survey updated each month, and found that about 27 percent of detainees have a minor child at home, and 20 percent have U.S. citizen children at home. <\/p>\n

These numbers are also far greater than the 5,500 children estimated to have been separated from their families at the U.S.-Mexico border during Trump\u2019s \u201czero tolerance\u201d policy in his first term \u2014 a policy that sparked mass protests and a movement to end family separation. <\/p>\n

Of the estimated 400,000 ICE detentions from the start of Trump\u2019s second term in January 2025 to April 2026, Brookings estimates that about 205,000 children have had a parent detained, and that around 145,000 of those children\u2014 over 72 percent \u2014 are U.S. citizens.<\/p>\n

The report then breaks down the estimates by age group, suggesting that nearly 53,500 U.S. citizen children who have had a family detained by ICE have been under the age of 6, and nearly 53,000 have been between the ages of 6 and 12. <\/p>\n

Brookings also examined which states had the highest rates of U.S. citizen children with a detained parent, and found that Washington, D.C. and Texas both have more than 5 in 1000 children with a parent detained by ICE. <\/p>\n

Read more Democrats Decry Trump\u2019s $1.8 Billion \u201cSlush Fund to Reward His Own Allies<\/a><\/p>\n

There is little to no data on what happens to these children, and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has not looked into whether children left behind end up in foster care, with friends or relatives, or traveling to meet their parents where they have been deported. Brookings notes that some 22,000 U.S. citizen children are left without any parent in the home. <\/p>\n

\u201cBased on interviews with community organizations and child welfare agencies, it appears that most children of detainees are living with family and friends or perhaps leaving the country, with child protection as a last resort,\u201d the study says, noting that it estimates that only 5 percent of these children have received welfare services. <\/p>\n

In a statement to The Guardian<\/em>, a DHS spokesperson stated that \u201cbeing in detention is a choice.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cICE does not separate families,\u201d the spokesperson continued. \u201cParents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person that the parent designates. This is consistent with past administrations\u2019 immigration enforcement.\u201d <\/p>\n

Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nevada) commented on Tuesday on X, saying, \u201cThis is horrifying. What does it say about our values as a country if we not only allow the Trump Admin. to separate children from their parents, but also spend even more money on this cruel scheme\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cFamily separations cause lasting trauma that no child should ever have to endure,\u201d she continued. \u201cThe Trump Admin. needs to reunite these families, and they must be held accountable for the harms they have inflicted on innocent children.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brookings notes that it expects detention to continue to expand due to the $45 billion allocated to building more immigration jails in the \u201cBig Beautiful Bill.\u201d It calls on DHS to report accurate data on parents and on the conditions of their children in the aftermath of detention and deportation, and demands that the government ensure affected children have access to support and protections. <\/p>\n

But activists have said repeatedly that ICE must be defunded and abolished, and not just met with reforms. In fact, in a YouGov poll in January, more Americans said they supported abolishing ICE than were opposed. <\/p>\n

Read more Israel Enacts Death Penalty Law for Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cFamily separations cause lasting trauma that no child should ever have to endure,\u201d one lawmaker said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nICE Separated 145,000 Children From Their Parents Since 2025, Study Estimates - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=31\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ICE Separated 145,000 Children From Their Parents Since 2025, Study Estimates - Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u201cFamily separations cause lasting trauma that no child should ever have to endure,\u201d one lawmaker said.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=31\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Smart Moving Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-19T19:07:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/d05ba816aa1764c90a872dc09c92a516.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"2400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=31#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=31\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/ec0d70042821fd684a174c8d0e8becfa\"},\"headline\":\"ICE Separated 145,000 Children From Their Parents Since 2025, Study Estimates\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-19T19:07:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=31\"},\"wordCount\":841,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=31#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/d05ba816aa1764c90a872dc09c92a516.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Interesting\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=31#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=31\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/smartmovinghome.com\\\/?p=31\",\"name\":\"ICE Separated 145,000 Children From Their Parents Since 2025, Study Estimates - 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