Internal government data reviewed exclusively by Reuters shows that more than 12,000 people have been arrested by immigration authorities after tips from the Office of Refugee Resettlement during Trump's second term. Since January 2025, according to that data, ORR has passed ICE more than 460,000 “leads” about unaccompanied migrant children, their sponsors and other household members.
ORR was created in 1980 to resettle refugees fleeing war and persecution, and since the early 2000s it has also housed unaccompanied children who arrive at the southern border. The care of those children has historically been walled off from immigration enforcement; a 2008 law sought to ensure they were released as soon as safely possible, regardless of their sponsors' legal status. Since Trump returned to office, his administration has dropped a rule that barred ORR from sharing information about potential sponsors with ICE, The Texas Tribune reported.
One case Reuters documented is a mother named Aurora, whose six-year-old daughter arrived at the border alone. The two were reunited in late March, and days later were detained by ICE and sent to a family detention center in Texas. The Texas Tribune reported a similar case: according to ICE documents, agents said they found and arrested a Dallas-Fort Worth-area woman seeking custody of her niece and nephew “with help from the Office of Refugee Resettlement.”
In a statement to Reuters, ORR said it “plays no role in the apprehension of children” and referred questions about enforcement to the Department of Homeland Security. DHS told Reuters that during Trump's second term “ORR has provided ICE Homeland Security Investigations with potential investigative leads,” as part of an effort to locate children placed with “unvetted sponsors.” Jen Smyers, ORR's deputy director under Biden, told Reuters, “They are weaponizing a child welfare program for the purposes of more deportations.” Attorneys told The Texas Tribune the agencies are using children as “bait” to detain sponsors, leaving children waiting in shelters for months; according to ORR figures cited by Reuters, the average time unaccompanied children spend in custody rose from 30 days in fiscal year 2024 to 194 days in June 2026, which Reuters attributed to added vetting steps such as fingerprinting all household members. ORR said its increased vetting is meant to shield children from harm.
Correction (October 2, 2026): This entry previously said the care of migrant children had been “deliberately” walled off from enforcement “for decades”; Reuters says it was “historically” walled off, and the entry now uses that wording. It also stated as fact that the data sharing deters sponsors from coming forward; that was the entry's own analysis, not a sourced finding, and it has been replaced with what attorneys told The Texas Tribune and what ORR's custody figures show. ORR's denial and DHS's confirmation that ORR has shared leads with ICE have been added.