How Trump's Immigration Crackdown Is affecting Hispanic Children in The U.S.

In January, Liam Conejo Ramos, a five-year-old Ecuadorian boy, was 'detained' by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers during a raid in Minnesota.

Even though the child and his father—who was also arrested—were released after an emergency order by a federal judge in Texas, they spent more than a week at the Dilley detention center outside of San Antonio. During his time in custody, medical reports and family statements confirmed that Liam's health had seriously deteriorated.

The case led to massive protests around the United States and other countries. Yet, just a month later, Joaquin Castro, a Democratic Representative for Texas, revealed the case of Juan Nicolás, a two-month-old baby who was also 'detained' in Texas by immigration officers alongside his Mexican mother, Mireya López Sánchez. At the time, the baby was suffering from bronchitis. The father, a Guatemalan national, and the sister of the baby, another minor who was just 16 months old, were also taken by ICE.

Before being deported to Mexico, the entire family spent three weeks in the same center where Liam Conejo had stayed.

According to Evelyn Marín, a human rights lawyer at America, Spain, Solidarity, and Cooperation (AESCO), "Criminalizing a child based on their parents' immigration status goes completely against all international statutes and any rule of law."

The Dilley detention center, about an hour south of San Antonio, has become a reference for how the Trump administration's strict migrant policies affect Hispanic children. In recent weeks, letters from two 'detained' Colombian girls, aged 9 and 14, also went viral as they detailed their ordeal.

"I'm not happy, please get me out of here," reads the message in Spanish, written next to a drawing by one of the girls representing herself and her mother.

These are a few examples of the numerous cases reported in recent months involving immigrant kids or children of immigrants—a situation that has sparked alarm among minor rights advocates.

"Research found that aggressive immigration enforcement has long-term, significant, and harmful effects on the mental health of unaccompanied children. We see this among young clients: constant fear for themselves and their families, anxiety, emotional distress, and hopelessness," Kids in Need of Defense (KIND), a US-based NGO that works with unaccompanied children on the border, told Latin Times in a statement.

During his second term, President Trump intensified mass deportations, authorized raids in different cities, and promoted rejection against migrants who his administration has described as "illegal aliens".

The AESCO representative warned that "when a public authority associates migration with criminality, the principle of equality is violated, and social practices of exclusion are legitimized."

However, a report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University reveals that 73.6% of the immigrants arrested by ICE do not have a criminal record. This supports recent complaints about working-class Latin families being torn apart and arbitrary arrests in residential zones.

"The fear of deportation violates the principle of the best interests of the child, which, according to Article 3 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, must prevail in any state action," said Marín, the lawyer.

This situation is not just causing stress and fear between parents and kids, but it also escalating cases of xenophobia. According to the UCLA Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access (Idea), 35.6% of public high schools in the United States have recorded bullying incidents against students from immigrant families.

The findings claim that some students have threatened their Hispanic classmates with comments like, "Can I see your papers?" or "Go back home."

Furthermore, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) warned that teenagers in families at risk of deportation are facing almost a 50% surge in clinical anxiety.

"With increased targeting of protected spaces, they fear going to school and participating in everyday life, which greatly impacts their development and emotional well-being and disrupts their educational and social growth," KIND wrote.

In February 2025, the mother of Jocelynn Rojo Carranza, an 11-year-old girl, told several media outlets that the girl died after suffering bullying at her school in Gainesville, Texas, over her family's immigration status.

Cases like this are raising concerns among children's rights organizations, which warn about the long-term mental impact of these measures on minors.

In their statement, KIND also confirmed that: "they are terrified of being separated from caregivers and being sent back to the same conditions that caused them to flee their country of origin in the first place."

A report from the American Immigration Council reveals that children experience toxic stress upon being separated from a parent, a trauma that negatively impacts their brain development. This exposure also increases their long-term risk for chronic mental illness and physical health issues, including cancer, stroke, diabetes, and heart disease.

This research also shows that in 2018, there were at least 4.4 million U.S. citizen minors living in 'mixed-status' families (e.g. one undocumented parent). This number has steadily increased over the years.

"It's hard to overstate how harmful these enforcement actions are on children, including the life-altering impact of the chronic toxic stress these actions impose," concluded the statement from KIND.