The Trump administration's latest immigration target: Kids aged 11 and under
More kids aged 11 or under — 8,317 — received a removal order from an immigration court in April than any other month in over 35 years of data collection, according to court data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).
Since Trump's inauguration in January, judges have ordered removals for over 53,000 immigrant minors.
Those children are predominantly elementary school age or younger. Some 15,000 children were aged under four years old, and 20,000 of them were children aged four to eleven.
Teenagers are also experiencing climbing deportations, with 17,000 seeing a court-ordered removal, although that's lower than their all-time peak in 2020 under the first Trump administration.
Some of these children being deported are unaccompanied minors, who do not have a legal guardian in the US; though the exact number is unclear, since immigration authorities stopped recording this data years ago.
Children, including toddlers, are required to show up at immigration hearings to be questioned by a judge – and many, unsurprisingly, do not understand what is happening nor the gravity of their situation.
In one case, a source tells the Independent, a young child from Haiti had his immigration court hearing remotely in front of a screen. The child, who had a learning disability, was fidgeting and running around the room. Finally, he pointed at the judge on the screen and asked – 'Who's that?'
In other cases, children are being arrested by ICE with their families, but held in detention and deported separately.
'A six year old child was picked up [by ICE] with his father, separated from his dad, and parked in custody for four months before being deported,' a lawyer familiar with children's immigration cases told the Independent. The child was unable to receive legal assistance, as he was deported while federal legal funding had been cut.
The deportation outcome rate for immigrant children under age 11 is higher than in any other age group, latest figures show, and has jumped significantly since Trump came into office.
What's more, under-18s account for one in four (26 percent) of all deportations ordered in immigration court since January – despite the fact that minors make up just 11 percent of the undocumented population.
The vast majority (76 percent) of children under 11 do not have legal representation, and cases are being sped through the system, according to sources close to the courts.
'This is pumping up the deportation numbers on the back of kids – their rights to safety and due process are not respected,' the immigration lawyer told the Independent.
'This is about striking fear in the hearts of everybody. It's demonstrable cruelty in the name of so-called deterrence.'
Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded to the Independent:
'Accusations that ICE is 'targeting' children are FALSE and an attempt to demonize law enforcement. ICE does not 'target' children nor does it deport children. Rather than separate families, ICE asks mothers if they want to be removed with their children or if the child should be placed with someone safe the parent designates.'
Highest-ever deportations for young children
Immigration crackdowns across the country have been almost indiscriminate, with new data revealing that ICE is arresting more non-criminals than ever.
The number of people who have been deported under the Trump administration is murky; ICE has not disclosed official figures since January, and available immigration court data is not comprehensive, with age not recorded in 13 percent of cases.
But analysis of court data reveals that children have been increasingly, and disproportionately, marked for deportation in recent months.
Under the Trump administration, immigration courts have quickly ramped up deportation rates. Around two thirds (68 percent) of all immigration court proceedings ended in deportation in May, compared to 39 percent in January.
But for children under 11, the removal rate is even higher, at 75 percent in May; and 78 percent for kids under 4 years old, both substantially higher than the 45 percent seen on average for young kids in January.
This suggests that children are being disproportionately targeted for deportations under this administration, overrepresented by 2.3 times more than their proportion of the illegal immigrant population, our analysis shows.
'What we're seeing right now is basically a grist mill in immigration court, just scooting kids through the process as quickly as possible,' the lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Independent.
At the same time, children facing immigration court are more vulnerable and less protected than ever.
In spite of this, the Trump administration has been fighting to cancel funding which provides legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children.
The government first issued a stop-work order in February, and cancelled federal contracts in March. In April the federal district court ordered the Trump administration to restore funding, saying it is congressionally mandated under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA).
Legal assistance programs told the Independent that they had since been re-contracted; but remain on 'pins and needles' as the government appeals the court ruling, and Trump's Big Beautiful Bill makes it harder and more expensive to sue against his policies.
Rocket dockets and separating families
In the meantime, children are being put on expedited paths through immigration court, known as 'rocket dockets', according to the immigration lawyer.
Many of these cases are going through in just two weeks from start to finish – which leaves little-to-no room for a child to prepare the necessary documents and arguments.
'Of course, a child is going to file a case that's not completely fleshed out in all the legal arguments, because they don't understand the legal argument,' the lawyer told the Independent.
'This is also really damaging for trafficking victims. Kids who have experienced severe trauma need the time to have their nervous system relax, to understand that they're safe, to share some of the most sensitive details about their cases.'
These tactics evoke the family separation policy, employed in 2018 under the first Trump administration, which forcibly kept parents and children apart when detained at the border – with as many as 1,360 families never reunited, according to Human Rights Watch.
'It is seen as against the due process rights of a child to be systematically separated from their parent or legal guardian,' the lawyer explained.
'What's clear is that they are sidestepping the legal settlement to protect children from these cruel techniques."
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