Class Action Alleges Administration Policies Illegally Prolong Detention of Unaccompanied Children 

Washington, DC — Today, children and an immigrant defense organization represented by Democracy Forward and the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) filed a class action complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia challenging new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) policies that have resulted in the separation of families and the prolonged detention of children in federal immigration custody. 

The complaint seeks to block the Trump administration’s policy that disqualifies parents, siblings, and other close family members from sponsoring unaccompanied children simply because of their immigration status or lack of specific documentation — a policy that has led children to be kept in custody away from their families for an alarmingly increasing period of time. The suit challenges a March 25, 2025, “Interim Final Rule,” which unlawfully rescinds key protections in the 2024 “Foundational Rule” that prevented the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) from disqualifying sponsors based solely on immigration status or sharing their personal information with immigration enforcement agencies. ORR also imposed new identification and income verification requirements, which are often extremely difficult for undocumented sponsors to satisfy, blocking children’s release and extending their detention. 

Plaintiffs include several youth, including a 14-year-old boy who is detained with his 7-year-old brother, and a 17-year-old who is detained with her infant daughter. These children and minors — along with many others like them — remain in detention despite ready and able family sponsors. Plaintiffs also include Immigrant Defenders Law Center, a nonprofit organization that provides legal services to immigrants, including unaccompanied children. 

“Families matter and children should not be subjected to fear and isolation. Yet, under the Trump administration’s policy, children are being kept in custody as opposed to with family members who can care for them. The administration has reversed years of established children’s welfare protections and replaced them with fear, prolonged detention, and bureaucratic cruelty,” said Skye Perryman, President and CEO of Democracy Forward. “We are going to court to hold the administration accountable and to restore the system where families can be together while their immigration cases proceed.” 

“It is unconscionable to keep children separated from their families without any legitimate rationale,” said Neha Desai, NCYL’s Managing Director of Children’s Human Rights & Dignity. “This crisis is born of policy, not necessity, and represents the latest version of family separation policies. Loving families all around the country are fighting to have their children returned to them, and we will keep fighting until these children are able to go home.” 

Congress has long required that unaccompanied immigrant children be placed in the “least restrictive setting” in the child’s best interest. Children who would previously have been released to a family member within days or weeks are now indefinitely trapped in government custody, potentially for many months or even years. In the years 2021-2024, the average length of time a child remained in ORR custody typically ranged from 27 days to 33 days. But now, children’s length of time in ORR custody has skyrocketed — from 37 days in January 2025, to 49 days in February 2025, to 112 days in March 2025. 

As detailed by plaintiffs and their families, this unnecessarily prolonged detention is inflicting profound harm on the well-being of children who want nothing more than to be released from federal government custody into the arms of their welcoming families: 

• “I talk to my mom every day on the phone from the shelter. If I imagine arriving at her house, and opening the door, the first thing I am going to do is hug her. I’m going to hug her for a really long time. Then I just want to talk to her, about anything. I just want to talk and be together again.”
• “There is nothing that I want more than to live with my sister. I gave birth to my baby girl in February and being separated from my family during this time, with a new baby, has been really hard for me…My sister has done everything my case manager asked her to do…I don’t understand why I can’t live with her.”
• “My case manager said I cannot be released to my sister because she doesn’t have an identification from the United States. I know my sister loves me and is doing everything she can to get me out. I don’t understand why the government has changed the rules in this way. Before I was able to be released to my sister and now because of not having a document I can’t be released to her. It is difficult to accept and I don’t know why this is my reality, only God knows.”
• “All these requirement changes have been very hard for me and my sons. Every time that I think that the application is ready, they tell me that the requirements have changed. The ID requirement was the hardest because we thought my sons were about to be released and suddenly I worried that they would never be able to get out to live with me. I don’t know why it is necessary in order to show that I am their mother or that I could take care of my sons, especially when I have provided my passport, my fingerprints, and my DNA.” 

Democracy Forward and The National Center for Youth Law are honored to represent the courageous children at the heart of this case — young voices who have bravely come forward not just for themselves, but for the thousands of other children still suffering the pain of separation. 

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Democracy Forward is a national legal organization that advances democracy and social progress through litigation, policy, public education, and regulatory engagement. For more information, please visit www.democracyforward.org 

The National Center for Youth Law centers youth through research, community collaboration, impact litigation, and policy advocacy that fundamentally transforms our nation’s approach to education, health, immigration, foster care, and youth justice. Our vision is a world in which every child thrives and has a full and fair opportunity to achieve the future they envision for themselves. For more information, please visit www.youthlaw.org.