Why migrant children stuck in shelters abandon hopes of staying in the U.S. as family reunions stall

A child waiting for her mother

At the shelter, the girl made a letter for her mother, Carmen. Her attorney said she had pleaded to leave and told Carmen she felt sad and lonely, wanted a hug, and was experiencing nosebleeds and thought she had an infection.

Carmen said in a September interview that both mother and daughter felt trapped. The girl and her older sister had arrived in the United States expecting to stay in a shelter for only a few days, according to the account.

Longer stays in custody

As of September, nearly 1,900 children were held in shelters overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, part of the Department of Health and Human Services. Congress assigned the office responsibility for unaccompanied children more than a decade ago, separating their care from immigration enforcement.

Before President Trump’s second term, children typically spent about a month in the office’s custody while officials screened potential sponsors. Alvaro Huerta of the Immigrant Defenders Law Center said a 3-year-old had remained in custody for 300 days, while a 6-year-old girl stayed seven months after her father was detained during sponsor vetting and deported.

Detention and departure offers

Huerta said the 6-year-old’s mother went to an appointment in March to reunite with her daughter, but both were sent to an immigration detention center in Dilley, Texas. In other cases, immigration officials have detained children after they were placed with sponsors and were already living in their communities.

Mother detained at appointment

Immigration officers detained Carmen without a warrant at an appointment. The resettlement office later rejected her sponsorship application, citing the detention it had helped facilitate, according to the account.