More than 145,000 American children have suffered the detention of one of their parents since President Donald Trump returned to office in January 2025, and more than 22,000 of them have suffered the detention of both parents, according to a report from the Brookings Institution made public this Monday.
Specifically, the study establishes that 146,635 minors are affected by Trump’s immigration policies and that, of this figure, 36.5% are under six years old, 36.1% are between six and 12 years old and the rest, between 13 and 17.
Regarding the nationality of the detained parents, the Brookings report indicates that the most affected nationality is Mexican, with up to 53.7% of the total, followed by Guatemala and Honduras, with 15% and 10.7%, respectively.
The study also focuses on where the arrests occurred, with Washington DC and Texas concentrating the highest proportion of US citizen children with an affected parent, with more than five per 1,000.
The Brookings analysis clarifies that there is no reliable data on how many detainees or deportees have children in the United States, nor on what happens to them once their parent is arrested, so they focus on the detainees, about whom they have “better information than about the deportees.”
These figures, relating to the minors affected by the White House’s immigration policy decisions, reflect the intensity of the work carried out by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) since Trump returned to power and which have generated protests throughout the country.
Currently, and according to the Brookings report, some 60,000 people are detained, and almost 400,000 have been transferred to ICE detention centers.
The Brookings analysis includes doubts about the fate of children who are separated from their parents and includes recommendations from associations that “encourage parents who want their children to remain in the United States to develop a family preparation plan, designating a close friend or relative who will take care of the child if they cannot do so.”
“In many of these cases, the government is unaware of the existence of children left behind, and most parents prefer to avoid contact with the child welfare system, even if they only have poor care options,” the immigration study notes.
Additionally, the report notes that the number of US citizen children facing the threat of family separation is much higher than the 145,000 who are estimated to have suffered during the time of the second Trump administration.
Brooklings estimates that there are 13 million adults who are undocumented or have irregular immigration status, with partial protection, and that their families include more than 4.6 million U.S. citizen children living with a parent at risk of deportation, including nearly 2.5 million children who could face detention of both.
