In the United States, the Trump administration is increasing arrests of immigrant families, including children who are sometimes very young. In just a few months, the number of minors arrested and detained by ICE immigration enforcement has exploded, disregarding existing legal protections.

Published on: 02/05/2026 - 5:36 p.m.

At ten years old, Elizabeth Zuna Caisaguano's daily life should be limited to the benches of her elementary school, in the suburbs of Minneapolis. Instead, the girl spent nearly a month locked away more than 1,500 kilometers from her classmates. Released on Tuesday February 3 from a detention center in Texas, her story illustrates the toughening of operations by the American immigration police (ICE).

It was on January 6 that the little girl's daily life changed. As she walks to school with her mother in Columbia Heights, federal agents intercept them. The family, originally from Ecuador, is awaiting a decision regarding an asylum application. An administrative detail that did not weigh heavily: a few hours later, mother and daughter were transferred to the center in Dilley, Texas, a secure complex dedicated to the detention of families.

Their case is not isolated: since its return to power, the Trump administration has intensified arrests of immigrant families as part of its strategy of mass expulsions, including children, sometimes very young. Two weeks after Elizabeth's arrest, the face of a five-year-old boy became the symbol of this policy. Liam Conejo Ramos, blue hat screwed on his head, was photographed escorted by federal agents in Minneapolis.

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170 children detained every day

The image, which went viral, sparked a wave of international indignation. As with Elizabeth, Liam's journey ended between the fences of Dilley, Texas, where he was detained with his father. It took a decision from a federal court to obtain their release.

Across the country, reports of child arrests are increasing. Two weeks ago, in south Minneapolis, a two-year-old baby was arrested with his father returning from shopping. In mid-January, it was in Portland that a seven-year-old girl was apprehended with her family in the parking lot of a hospital while she was going to the emergency room. In Chicago, a six-year-old boy was arrested with his mother during a large police operation launched this fall in a residential building.

According to an analysis by independent media The Marshall Project, at least 3,800 minors have been detained by ICE since the start of Donald Trump's second term, including around twenty infants. On average, 170 children are detained every day, with peaks of more than 400. More than 1,000 of them have been locked up for more than 20 days, the maximum duration authorized by American justice.

Figures from the Department of Homeland Security confirm this trend: the average population of family detention centers increased from 425 people in October 2025 to more than 1,300 in January 2026, in just three months.

In Dilley, the conditions of detention worry relatives and associations. An outbreak of measles has been reported there. Carolina Gutierrez, principal secretary at the Highland elementary school Elizabeth attended, told the Guardian that the little girl had flu-like symptoms and that her mother suffered from hives, without being able to see a doctor.

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Legal protections increasingly circumvented

However, the detention of minors is strictly regulated in the United States. The Flores Agreement, signed in 1997, requires that children be detained in the "least restrictive" conditions possible and released without unnecessary delay (generally within 20 days) to their families or approved reception facilities. It also guarantees access to healthcare, education and family reunification.

In practice, these safeguards are increasingly weakened. Court documents report alarming conditions of detention at Dilley: rotten food, undrinkable water, lack of activities for children, psychological distress. Some parents describe children hitting their faces, isolating themselves, or starting to urinate on themselves again.

“Every day that passes in a place like this, the condition of a child deteriorates,” warns Javier Hidalgo, legal director of RAICES, a Texas association defending the rights of migrants, to The Marshall Project. “I saw them withdraw into themselves. They lost weight, their physical condition deteriorated.” For Kristin Kumpf, coordinator of the National Coalition Against Family Detention, the outcome is predictable: "It's only a matter of time before a child dies at Dilley or another center."

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On January 28, Texas Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro visited the center. Among the 1,100 detainees, he saw a two-month-old infant. “They are literally treated like prisoners. It’s a monstrous machine,” he denounces in a video broadcast live on his social networks.

Opened in 2014 under the Obama administration with a capacity of 2,400 detainees, the Dilley center was closed under Joe Biden, who had largely ended the detention of families in 2021. But Donald Trump relaunched this practice upon his return to the White House, promising "the largest expulsion operation in history", with a goal of one million returns per year.

In March, Dilley reopened its doors and once again became the main family detention site in the country. “Trump’s advisors prioritized expulsion goals and treated children as collateral damage,” denounces Wendy Young, president of the Kids in Need of Defense association, to the Washington Post. “Many protections have been dismantled in favor of a punitive system.”

Fear as a strategy

To meet the Trump administration's goals, ICE is ramping up its operations. In Minneapolis, Los Angeles and Chicago, masked federal agents are making arrests in the streets, at bus stops or near DIY stores. Result: families go underground.

In schools, the effects are visible. “Children are missing,” observes Mandi Jung, a teacher in Saint Paul, Minneapolis’ twin city. In one of his classes, the numbers went from 30 students to a dozen. "White children come to school. Black and mixed-race students stay at home."

Faced with hundreds of requests from worried families, the director of the city's public schools introduced online education chosen by 25% of students (7,000 young people). “Just like we did during the Covid pandemic, [teachers] are being asked to adapt quickly and create lessons that children can do at home,” says Mandi Jung.

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To demand that federal agents stay away from schools, a group of Minnesota teachers took legal action on Wednesday. When questioned, the spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, nevertheless assured: “ICE does not go to schools to arrest children. We protect children.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration is staying the course. The government plans to buy and transform up to 23 industrial warehouses into new detention centers, some with family housing.

“These families are tossed by the political winds, their living conditions evolving according to the administration in place,” analyzes Elissa Steglich, professor of law at the University of Texas, in the Washington Post. “Their detention has always been more of a political instrument intended to make an impact, whether it be border policy or the wider asylum system.”

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