Nearly 150,000 U.S. Citizen Children Have Likely Seen a Parent Detained Since Trump Returned to Office

The Trump administration's immigration crackdown has likely resulted in the detention of parents of more than 145,000 U.S. citizen children since President Donald Trump returned to office in January of last year, according to a new report published Monday by the Brookings Institution.

The report estimates that approximately 146,635 American children have experienced the detention of at least one parent during the administration's expanded deportation campaign. More than 22,000 children, researchers found, experienced the detention of all co-resident parents in their household. Roughly 36% of affected children were younger than six years old.

Brookings researchers said official government figures likely understate the scale of the issue. The Department of Homeland Security reported 18,277 detainees with U.S. citizen children during fiscal year 2025, but the report said that number was "almost certainly a substantial undercount."

Using demographic modeling based on detention records and Census survey data, researchers estimated that more than 4.6 million U.S. citizen children currently live with at least one parent vulnerable to deportation, while roughly 2.5 million could face the detention of all parents in their household.

The report identified children linked to Mexican parents as the largest affected group, accounting for nearly 54% of cases. Children with parents from Guatemala and Honduras represented more than one-quarter combined. Washington, D.C., and Texas recorded some of the highest rates of parental detention affecting children.

Researchers warned that family separations are occurring amid evidence that immigration officers are not consistently following procedures designed to protect children during enforcement actions. A March report by the Women's Refugee Commission and Physicians for Human Rights found that some deported parents were never asked whether they had children or given time to arrange care before removal.

"What we've found is fairly significant evidence that [ICE officers] are not asking about people's children at the time of arrest," said Zain Lakhani of the Women's Refugee Commission at the time.

Other recent investigations have found that children of detained or deported parents have entered foster care systems across multiple states, while lawmakers in states including California, Nevada and New Jersey have advanced legislation allowing parents facing detention to designate temporary guardians.

Brookings researchers argued that the administration is unlikely to achieve its stated goal of removing all unauthorized immigrants and said the federal government should publicly track how many children are affected by detention and deportation policies.

"As immigration enforcement expands," the report concluded, "ensuring that affected children have access to basic supports and protections should be understood not as optional, but as a necessary governmental responsibility tied to the foreseeable consequences of family separation and displacement."