Brookings Says 146,635 US Children Saw a Parent Detained in Trump's 2nd Term
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · May 18
Brookings Says 146,635 US Children Saw a Parent Detained in Trump's 2nd Term
5 articles · Updated · The Guardian · May 18
146,635 US-citizen children likely had a parent detained after Donald Trump returned to office in January, Brookings said, including more than 22,000 who lost all co-resident parents to detention.
36% of those children were younger than 6, and Brookings said DHS's reported 18,277 detainees with US-citizen children in fiscal 2025 is almost certainly a substantial undercount.
54% of affected children were linked to parents from Mexico, while Guatemala and Honduras together accounted for more than 25%; Washington, DC, and Texas had the highest rates, at over 5 per 1,000 children.
Brookings estimated 4.6 million US-citizen children live with at least one parent vulnerable to deportation and 2.5 million could face detention of all parents in their household, urging DHS to publish better data and child protections as enforcement expands.
When official data hides separated children, how can the true human toll of immigration enforcement be accurately measured?
What is the societal cost of creating a generation of U.S. citizen children traumatized by family separation?
As AI helps track families for deportation, what new legal safeguards can protect a child's right to family?
The Hidden Toll: Over 5 Million U.S. Citizen Children at Risk Amid Record Family Separations and Aggressive Immigration Enforcement (2025–2026)
Overview
Family separations in the United States have reached an unprecedented scale, with millions of U.S. citizen children living in households with undocumented family members. Despite the profound impact on these children, official government statistics often fail to capture the true extent of the crisis, as the Department of Homeland Security has not provided clear data on detained parents. This lack of transparency, combined with aggressive immigration enforcement, has led to significant emotional and economic hardship for families. The situation is further complicated by data discrepancies and policy shifts, making it difficult to fully understand and address the ongoing crisis.