The Trump administration is reportedly planning to deport migrant children who arrived in the country without a parent or guardian. According to two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officials, federal agents will be directed to ask teens whether they want to voluntarily depart the United States.
This news acts as a stark contrast from the long-time policy employed by prior presidential administrations, which required federal authorities to turn over most unaccompanied minors to the Health and Human Services Department (HHS), rather than asking migrant children if they would like to self-deport.
What Happens If Children Choose to Self-Deport?
If a child tells the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) that they agree to voluntarily depart from the country, CBP agents are directed to turn them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for deportation. However, if an ICE agent does not retrieve them from CBP custody within 72 hours, the child will be brought to HHS.
Sources from DHS have stated that this new protocol is designed to apply to children ages 14 to 17 as the administration cracks down on efforts to carry out Trump’s mass deportation campaign.
“A child is in no position to understand the consequences of self-deporting, particularly without the guidance of an attorney,” the Children’s Human Rights at the National Center for Youth Law’s Managing Director Neha Desai stated. “Unaccompanied children are being used as pawns in an effort to deport as many people as possible, regardless of the human toll it takes on the most vulnerable members of our community.”
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