Over 6,200 minors have been detained by ICE during the Trump Administration

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has detained more than 6,200 minors during President Donald Trump’s second term, an 842% increase compared to the end of Joe Biden’s administration. According to a report by The Marshall Project, an average of 226 children and teenagers have been detained per day since Trump took office, compared to 24 minors detained daily toward the end of Biden’s term.

The data, obtained by the Deportation Data Project from ICE documents, shows a peak in January 2026, when the number of detained minors exceeded 550. Subsequently, the figure fell sharply, reaching its lowest point—less than 90—in mid-March. This shift coincides with the dismissal of Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security, although activists have urged caution, as the most recent data has not been made public and the decline could still be temporary.

Just this week, the Trump administration requested that a portion of the 2027 budget be allocated to the purchase of up to 30,000 family unit beds, indicating a planned expansion of the detention capacity for migrant families.

The organization’s report also condemned the conditions faced by children entering the immigration agency’s detention centers, including inadequate medical care, lack of access to education, and expired or nutritionally poor meals. “No innocent child should ever be imprisoned. The Trump administration’s cruel mass deportation campaign is ripping away childhoods and inflicting trauma that these young people will carry for their entire lives. It’s wrong and must end,” said Democratic Congressman Joaquín Castro in response to The Marshall Project’s analysis.

The 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement establishes minimum standards for the conditions under which detained migrant children must be held. However, activists have denounced the Family Detention Center in Dilley, Texas—where nearly half of the children detained during the Trump era have been held—for failing to meet these requirements. In this context, experts have warned that any period of detention, no matter how brief, can have repercussions on the health of children and adolescents. “Immigrant children seeking safe haven in the United States should never be placed in ICE detention facilities. There is no evidence that any amount of time in detention is safe for children and detention itself poses a threat to child health. In fact, even short periods of detention can cause psychological trauma and long-term mental health risks,” the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) stated in a letter reported by The Marshall Project.

In addition to the repercussions of detention, the report has documented that the trauma for migrant families continues even after detention ends. More than 3,600 children have been deported during Trump’s second term, while those who manage to remain in the country face difficulties in regularizing their immigration status under Trump’s restrictive policies.

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