ICE unannounced – Nonprofit legal groups that represent unaccompanied migrant children say ICE officers arrived unannounced at their offices and sought documents and financial records tied to their child clients. The groups called the visits intimidation from the Trump administ
ICE officers showed up unannounced at the offices of nonprofits that provide legal representation to unaccompanied migrant children—turning up with requests for documents tied to the kids they serve, the organizations say.
In recent days. the groups said ICE investigators arrived at their offices along with agents from the Department of Health and Human Services. In a statement Friday. the nonprofits—Amica Center for Immigrant Rights. Ayuda. and Kids in Need of Defense (KIND)—said the agents sought access to “documents and financial records relating to the organizations’ child clients.” The groups said the agents were turned away each time because they had no warrant or authority to make such requests.
Amica Executive Director Michael Lukens called it “a blatant abuse of power to try to intimidate child advocates who have dedicated their lives to advocating for unaccompanied immigrant children.” Ayuda’s executive director. Paula Fitzgerald. said unannounced federal visits to community-based legal service providers send “a chilling message to immigrant families who may already be afraid to seek help.”.
None of the agencies involved— the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or the Department of Health and Human Services—answered questions about the groups’ claims.
The visits land in an immigration system where legal help is not treated the same way it is in criminal proceedings. Unlike people in the U.S. facing criminal charges. those in immigration legal proceedings. including children. are not guaranteed the right to a lawyer by the federal government. In practice. the groups said. children in immigration proceedings often appear in immigration court without a lawyer and must pursue their legal rights on their own.
For Amica. Ayuda. and KIND. funding is central to what they do: the groups said they receive congressionally allocated funding to help provide legal assistance to thousands of children in need. Yet they say the Trump administration’s second term has moved the other direction—pushing to reduce the ability of child-advocacy organizations to operate.
The groups pointed to a past attempt to cut their funding altogether. where a judge ordered that the funding be restored. More recently. they said the government has sought to force the groups to hand over sensitive information about their clients—raising fears that the information could be used as part of deportation efforts.
Pressure on legal cases. the groups’ statement suggests. has come alongside tactics that raise the risk that families and youth will disengage. The statement described immigration agents pressuring unaccompanied migrant youth in government custody to “self-deport” and leave their legal cases behind. including with the threat of “prolonged” detention.
When children cross the border without an adult guardian. they are placed in a shelter system coordinated by the HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement. The groups said time in those shelters has risen during Trump’s second term. while prospective sponsors—usually family members—now face new. onerous requirements and the threat of arrest and deportation themselves.
The groups also said ICE has placed a record number of kids into that shelter system in Trump’s second term, pointing to arrests that expand enforcement not just against parents and other family members but also the conditions under which children are processed.
The Trump administration has said its actions are aimed at locating hundreds of thousands of supposedly “missing” immigrant kids. At a press conference on Thursday. administration officials announced they had found 146. 000 “missing” immigrant children and suggested many were victims of sex and labor trafficking.
The groups’ description of that figure is narrower: they said the 146,000 count refers to children to whom the government had not served notices to appear in immigration court, even though child abuse and trafficking can occur among unaccompanied migrant youth.
At the same Thursday press conference. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin appeared to acknowledge that arrests and deportation efforts have been made based on immigration status alone. In remarks quoted in the statement. Mullin said: “Some. we couldn’t maybe prove that either the child was being [trafficked] because the child was refusing to speak. We have either found legal sponsors for the child. and then. have gone through the process of deporting the individuals.” He added: “Some of the individuals now that were brought over as children are now adults. The ones that are here as adults, we’re working on the process of sending them back.”.
For advocates, the unannounced visits to their offices were not described as routine oversight. They were framed instead as a direct attempt to reach into the legal infrastructure built to protect children—at a moment when. the groups say. the government’s enforcement posture has made families and youth increasingly afraid to seek help.
ICE Immigration and Customs Enforcement HHS unaccompanied migrant children KIND Amica Center for Immigrant Rights Ayuda legal representation immigration court Office of Refugee Resettlement Markwayne Mullin