ProPublica: Trump Has Detained the Parents of More Than 11,000 U.S. Citizen Kids

PROPUBLICA - The arrest and detention of immigrant parents with American citizen children occurred twice as often after President Donald Trump returned to office, according to a new report.

The analysis of a new of nationwide Immigration and Customs Enforcement dataset was obtained by the University of Washington Center for Human Rights as part of an ongoing public records lawsuit. It covers the last three years of the Joe Biden administration and the Trump administration until mid-August 2025.

The analysis was shared exclusively with ProPublica. ProPublica’s story was written by reporters Jeff Ernsthausen, Mario Ariza, McKenzie Funk, Mica Rosenberg, and Gabriel Sandoval.

In the first seven months of Trump’s second term, authorities arrested and detained parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children — a number that, if the pace held up, will have roughly doubled by now. That’s an average of more than 50 U.S. citizen kids a day with a parent pulled into detention.

Graphic by Chris Alcantara/ProPublica

Reporting Highlights:

• More Moms Deported: An exclusive data analysis found Trump has deported moms of U.S. citizens at four times the rate of his predecessor.
• Left Stranded: Because American-born kids can’t legally join their parents in immigration detention, some end up with friends or strangers when their parents are detained or deported.
• New Directive: Trump administration officials revised a document advising how ICE officers should interact with parents, removing the word “humane.”

Editor's Note: Click here to read the ProPublica story in full.