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Carlos arrived at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Mexico in December, believing he was one step closer to reuniting with his children. By that point, his 14-year-old son and 16-year-old daughter had been in a federal shelter in Texas for nearly a year after crossing the border to be with him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel like I\u2019m suffocating inside this shelter, trapped with no way out,\u201d Carlos\u2019 son said, according to one of the teens\u2019 attorneys, when asked to describe how he felt after months at the Houston-area facility. \u201cEvery day, the same routine. Every day, feeling stuck. It makes me feel hopeless and terrified.\u201d<\/p>\n
During daily video calls, Carlos, who had temporary protected status, urged the siblings to be patient, to trust the process. Federal officials had vetted Carlos before he could be granted custody and told him his case was complete. He believed he would soon be back with his children, who, like him, had sought refuge from political violence in Venezuela. \u00a0<\/p>\n
An immigration officer called Carlos on a Friday and asked him to attend a meeting at an ICE office the following Monday to discuss reunification with his children. Once Carlos arrived, officers tried to force him to sign documents he said he didn\u2019t understand. When he refused, they stripped off his clothes, seized his ID and belongings, and chained him by the neck, waist, and legs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey tricked me,\u201d Carlos said in a phone call from an immigration detention center in El Paso, Texas, where he was held for several months. \u201cThey used my children to grab me,\u201d he said. \u00a0<\/p>\n
In reporting on the family\u2019s story, KFF Health News reviewed court documents, spoke with the family\u2019s immigration attorneys, interviewed Carlos, and reviewed statements from his children, translated from Spanish. Carlos is a pseudonym, being used at the request of attorneys concerned that speaking out could jeopardize Carlos\u2019 immigration case or further delay his reunion with his family.<\/p>\n
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Using Children to Arrest Parents<\/strong><\/p>\n Since 2003, the Department of Health and Human Services\u2019 Office of Refugee Resettlement has cared for immigrant children under 18 who arrive in the country without their parents, often fleeing violence, abuse, or trafficking. The office, which in February had more than 2,300 children in shelters or with foster families across the country, is supposed to promptly release them to vetted caregivers, typically parents or other family members already living in the country.<\/p>\n Congress placed this responsibility with the health agency over 20 years ago to prioritize the well-being of unaccompanied children and separate their care from immigration enforcement priorities.<\/p>\n Now the second Trump administration is using migrant children held by the resettlement office to lure their parents, such as Carlos, whether or not they have a criminal record. A KFF Health News investigation found the resettlement office, headed by a former ICE official, coordinates with the Department of Homeland Security to arrest people seeking custody of migrant children.<\/p>\n Arrest documents show Homeland Security Investigations, the arm of the agency that normally focuses on organized criminals and traffickers, will interview parents or other caregivers then arrest them if they are in the country illegally. Before Donald Trump returned to the White House, the resettlement office prohibited data sharing and collaboration with immigration enforcement, and it did not deny caregivers custody of children solely because of their immigration status. Those restrictions were rescinded last year.<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear exactly how many caregivers have been baited into arrest. LAist obtained data indicating more than 100 have been arrested while trying to get their kids out of detention, but KFF Health News could not independently verify that number with federal agencies.<\/p>\n Since February, the Department of Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, and Justice Department have not responded to questions about caregiver arrests. Prior to leaving DHS last month, Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the administration protects children from being released to people who shouldn\u2019t care for them. Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesperson, referred questions related to immigration enforcement to DHS.<\/p>\n At the same time, the resettlement office has enacted new rules that make it harder for caregivers to gain custody of unaccompanied children. These include narrowing the range of accepted documents, requiring fingerprint-based background checks for every adult in the home and backup caregivers, and requiring in-person appointments to verify identification documents, sometimes with ICE agents present. The requirements keep \u201cchildren safe from traffickers and other bad, dangerous people,\u201d Nixon said.<\/p>\n As of January, the agency had detained at least 300 children already placed with vetted sponsors and asked their caregivers to reapply, according to the National Center for Youth Law and the Democracy Forward Foundation. The advocacy groups filed a Feb. 23 lawsuit calling these actions \u201ca quieter, new form of family separation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Reverse Separation<\/strong><\/p>\n Dulce, a Guatemalan mother in Virginia, said her 8-year-old son was sent to a government shelter after he was detained during a traffic stop last summer while visiting family members in a different state.<\/p>\n At first, Dulce expected to get her son back within days \u2014 she had passed the government\u2019s sponsorship requirements in 2024 and was reunited with him three weeks after he first crossed the border. But resettlement agency officials asked her to repeat the entire process and resubmit documents, Dulce said. It took eight months to get him back.<\/p>\n Dulce is a pseudonym being used at her request because she fears speaking out could get her deported.<\/p>\n At one point, Dulce was told to attend an interview at an ICE office to show her identification as part of the process of reuniting with her son. She refused out of fear that she too might be detained, because she doesn\u2019t have legal status. She believes ICE agents visited her home at one point.<\/p>\n \u201cI stopped going home,\u201d Dulce said. \u201cI lived with some of my friends for days.\u201d<\/p>\n Even though she lived just 45 minutes away, Dulce was allowed to visit her son only twice a month.<\/p>\n Until recently, most unaccompanied children landed in government custody after being detained at the border. But border crossings started to fall in 2024, and the number of people coming to the U.S. has dropped precipitously in President Trump\u2019s second term.<\/p>\n Now, hundreds of kids have been taken to government shelters after being swept up inside the country, often during immigration raids or traffic stops, according to the advocates\u2019 lawsuit. Many were already living with relatives, including guardians already vetted by the resettlement agency.<\/p>\n Releases have grinded nearly to a halt. According to the resettlement office, children in its custody stayed in government shelters or foster care for an average of one month in 2024. As of February, that had jumped to more than half a year.<\/p>\n