Overview
- An analysis by ProPublica of a nationwide ICE dataset reported at least 11,000 U.S.-citizen children had a parent taken into detention in the first seven months of Trump’s second term, averaging more than 50 children affected per day.
- The dataset, obtained by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights through a public-records lawsuit, spans the last three years of the Biden administration and runs through mid‑August 2025.
- The report found mothers were detained at roughly four times the prior administration’s daily rate, and most detained parents had no U.S. criminal convictions beyond traffic or immigration offenses.
- Cases involving detained parents were more likely to end in deportation under Trump, with outcomes roughly double the deportation rate seen under Biden.
- DHS Acting Assistant Secretary Lauren Bis said the agency cannot verify the data and stated that ICE does not separate families, as separate reporting noted ICE’s parental‑custody directive was renamed and revised to emphasize case‑by‑case enforcement.