Okay But Why Is ICE Detaining Children?

Some Facts about ICE

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was started in 2003 by President George W. Bush. It’s barely over 20 years old. It’s currently run by acting director Todd Lyons, who was appointed by the Trump administration. (Strangely, ICE hasn’t had a director who’s been confirmed by the Senate since Obama left office in 2017.) It employs more than 20,000 people and in 2024, its budget was 8 billion dollars.

ICE is currently holding 47,000 people in detention centers. 48 percent of them have no criminal record at all, and many more only have minor violations, like traffic tickets – Not the dangerous criminals that Trump was claiming he would go after. And while arresting a third-grader is particularly bad, that family is only one of thousands to be blindsided by ICE.

Who ICE is Detaining

• In Kansas, a mom named Rosemery was attending a routine appointment with her local Immigration office when she was detained. Her children are U.S. citizens, and her husband recently became a citizen as well. He petitioned for Rosemary to get a green card, and they were excited to receive a letter that said she’d been approved but needed to come down for an interview, but once she arrived, officers detained her without any explanation. Rosemery is now being held at a detention center two hours away from her family.
• Kilmar Abrego Garcia grew up in El Salvador and then immigrated to the United States at the age of 16 to escape gang threats. He lived in Maryland with his wife and kids, who are all American citizens. It’s important to note that he was here in this country legally, completing all of his annual check-ins with ICE and had never committed any crime. Despite all that, he was stopped by ICE on the way home from picking up his son. He was arrested and his wife Jennifer was told she had ten minutes to pick up their son before he was turned over to child protective services. Kilmar was then sent to a maximum security prison in El Salvador.
• Jasmine is a Canadian woman who went to an immigration office to update her work visa (which had already been approved months before) when she was suddenly taken to an ICE detention center. She was held in a cell with a concrete floor along with dozens of other women.

Why is ICE detaining people who aren’t criminals?

Immigration was one of Trump’s top issues during his presidential campaign. He promised to be “tough” on immigration and he’s desperate to deliver. In February, he was reportedly angry that more people weren’t being deported and told senior managers that ICE should be arresting at least 1,200 people per day. Are those quotas the reason that so many people are being mistakenly targeted?

Also, companies like CoreCivic and GEO Group receive government funding based on the number of people they detain, which is why they lobby for stricter immigration policies. And it’s big business – in 2024, GEO Group made more than $763 million from ICE contracts. The more prisoners they detain, the more money they make. It’s in their best interests to detain people as long as possible. It makes them more money.

Horror stories have already begun to emerge about the conditions at ICE detention centers. Is this the America we want? Not according to recent polls. Support for Trump’s immigration policies is falling, even amongst MAGA voters. Latino voters are especially concerned, with a recent poll showing that 63% believe that Trump has gone too far.

What can we do?

We can volunteer or donate to local aid organizations. In many cases, you don’t have to start from scratch. Just search for organizations that support immigrants in your area. And be sure to talk to everyone you know about this.

Jasmine (one of the women we mentioned above), is speaking out. ”If you go to jail, you’re sentenced and you know when you’re getting out. In here, you have no idea. These women haven’t seen their husbands, haven’t seen their children, they’re losing their jobs. It’s just… honestly, I could not believe that this is happening. This isn’t just my story. This is thousands and thousands of women who are placed in these situations without my privilege. And I tell everyone, I had resources, I had a Canadian passport, I had lawyers, I had politicians, I had the media, and it still took me two weeks to get out of there. Can you even imagine what these other women are going through?”

Many Americans mistakenly believe that only dangerous criminals are being deported and imprisoned. Your friends and family should know that ICE isn’t just detaining innocent people, they’re actually going after children. This isn’t a partisan issue – it’s about values.