The Trump Administration is bringing forward by weeks or even months the immigration hearings — in which a judge decides whether to stay or deport — of migrant children in the custody of US authorities, in an attempt to speed up the process.
The news is being advanced by CNNwho spoke with Government officials and lawyers, who denounce that the measure is making an already complex process more difficult. The channel claims that children as young as four are being forced to repeatedly appear in court to provide updates on the status of their cases, sometimes without legal assistance.
Donald Trump launched an offensive against immigration after returning to the White House in January 2025, and this is the latest decision in a series of measures to focus immigration enforcement on minors who arrived in the United States unaccompanied or who are returned to Government custody due to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, the US immigration policewhich resulted in the arrest of parents or family members. The decision is generating concern among lawyers and human rights defenders, who argue that the accelerated deadlines could result in vulnerable children being returned to the conditions they fled.
Andrew Nixon, a spokesman for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), argued that many of the children in question were at risk of being victims of trafficking and exploitation, and that some were brought by cartels to North American territory. “Moving forward with prosecutions helps dismantle these networks and ensures that children return to safe environments as quickly as possible,” Nixon said in a statement.
In one of the most glaring examples, a five-year-old child who arrived unaccompanied in the US found his immigration hearing scheduled for a week or two after arrival. In Texas, a hearing for a child living in a shelter was brought forward by several weeks, from a Thursday to the following Tuesday, and another hearing that was scheduled for 2027 was rescheduled for this month.
Migrant children who arrive at U.S. borders without parents or guardians are classified as unaccompanied and sent to federally run shelters until they can be placed with a family member or foster home, a process outlined in federal law. According to the most recent federal data, migrant children, an especially vulnerable group, are spending, on average, almost seven months in custody, a period that has been increasing in recent months. In March, there were more than two thousand migrant children in the custody of HHS, responsible for funding facilities and programs that care for unaccompanied migrant children in 24 US states.
At the end of January, a panel of experts from the United Nations (UN) were even concerned about the cut in federal funding for legal services for unaccompanied children in immigration processes.
In a statement, the group stressed that denying legal representation to children and forcing them to face full proceedings without legal assistance constitutes a “serious violation of children’s rights”.
Under the law, the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) is responsible for caring for unaccompanied children, while the Department of Homeland Security must “protect them from abuse, exploitation and human trafficking.” The legislation also guarantees access to legal assistance and prevents the accelerated deportation of these minors.
Still, on February 18, 2025, shortly after Donald Trump returned to the White House, it was suspended financing for legal service providers non-profit that represented unaccompanied children. Despite the legal actions taken, millions of children were left without legal support and at risk of deportation.
In the same statement, the UN denounces that there are reports of children being kept in windowless cells, without access to adequate healthcare and separated from their parents or guardians for long periods of time. Some children were also pressured to accept payments of 2,500 dollars (around two thousand euros) to give up the legal protections provided by law, under threat of indefinite detention.
