Sign-On Letter Says Recent ICE, HSI Interviews of Unaccompanied Children in U.S. Custody Run Counter to U.S. Law, Sidestep Child-Centered Best Practices
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : September 24, 2025
CONTACT: Megan McKenna, mmckenna@supportkind.org
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, media@las-americas.org
Washington, DC – Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) is among 23 organizations urging an end to recent Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) interviews of unaccompanied children in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facilities. In a joint letter, the groups that provide vital services to migrant children warn that this wave of interviews, “which we understand some agencies may be taking the position are related to potential ‘reunification,’” have caused “acute fear among children in ORR custody and not adhered to trauma-informed, child-centered practices” and “stand to leave children less safe, not more.” In addition, the letter states the interviews run counter to existing law that distinguishes ORR’s child welfare mission from the immigration enforcement duties assigned to DHS, contributing to an increasingly blurred line between ORR and ICE. The letter reads:
Dear Acting Director Lyons and Acting Director Salazar,
We write to share concerns regarding recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) interviews of unaccompanied children in Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) facilities. As organizations committed to child well-being, we are grateful for agency actions that help guard children against mistreatment. Unfortunately, these interviews, which have caused acute fear among children in ORR custody and not adhered to trauma-informed, child-centered practices, stand to leave children less safe, not more. We ask that ICE, HSI, and ORR halt these interviews in ORR shelters and we welcome opportunities for engagement on different approaches.
As you know, many unaccompanied children in ORR custody have fled to the United States to escape dangers in their countries of origin such as trafficking, abuse, and persecution. As they pursue safety through the U.S. immigration system, they often endure ongoing trauma rooted in past harms and heightened by new and adverse experiences. This population is courageous and resilient. It is also deeply vulnerable.
HSI law enforcement personnel have recently carried out interviews of numerous such children in ORR shelters throughout the nation. Interview questions have focused in significant part on children’s parents and legal guardians, including their names, contact information, and locations. HSI has posed these questions against a widely reported backdrop of ICE immigration enforcement actions against unaccompanied children’s family members who lack immigration status as well as against children themselves, including attempted overnight removals of Guatemalan children in ORR custody who had fled abuse and other harm in Guatemala and fear returning there.
Our concerns regarding these HSI interviews, which we understand some agencies may be taking the position are related to potential “reunification,” include the following:
● ICE statements that interviews would facilitate “family reunification”—a process that ORR is mandated to carry out. In many cases, HSI has indicated to children that its interviews served the purpose of family reunification. This has prompted confusion over the line separating ORR, which is statutorily required to perform the sponsor vetting and placement process resulting in family reunification, and ICE. In other cases, HSI failed to explain to children why it was conducting the interviews.
● Chilling effect on children’s communication with U.S. authorities. Consistent with ORR’s mission as a child welfare agency, its shelters should serve as supportive, child-centered environments that account for unaccompanied children’s vulnerabilities and uphold their well-being as sponsor reunification unfolds. The widespread presence of immigration enforcement personnel carrying out questioning at length—sometimes in an aggressive manner and absent trauma-informed, child-centered practices— profoundly frightened many of the already vulnerable children in ORR’s care and raised questions over whether their pursuit of humanitarian protection in the United States would result in immigration enforcement consequences for their loved ones and/or themselves. This fear will endure. It is now less likely that children will feel comfortable sharing information with U.S. authorities, even when doing so is vital to children’s safety. These authorities include ORR child welfare professionals whose work relies on maintaining the trust of and communication with unaccompanied children.
● Limited notice to legal services providers and Child Advocates. In many cases, legal services providers that serve impacted ORR facilities have received limited notice that HSI interviews would take place, leaving little time to ensure availability while questioning occurred and even though these interviews could have implications for children’s legal proceedings. In some cases, providers received no notice at all and children underwent these interviews alone.
● Absence of confidentiality. In some cases, HSI conducted interviews of unaccompanied children within full view and earshot of other children without any other confidentiality safeguards.
● Unfamiliarity with family reunification processes. In some cases, HSI agents appeared to lack a basic understanding of the reunification process they stated they were facilitating. They were confused about shelter placements, release protocols, and the role of sponsors.
● Inadequate interpretation services. In some instances, HSI did not provide interpreters for their interviews or appear to have planned for interpretation, prompting other personnel to stand in as interpreters despite potential conflicts of interest and concerns around interpretation quality.
It bears emphasis that our organizations have helped secure the safety of countless children from trafficking and exploitation. Many of our groups have supported children in serving as victim-witnesses and successfully worked in partnership with law enforcement agencies to advance the investigation and prosecution of traffickers and other bad actors. We recognize the critical importance of rigorous sponsor vetting and of the placement of children in safe homes where they will thrive. We applaud agency measures that strengthen child protection.
But we are very concerned that these HSI “reunification” interviews in ORR facilities promote the opposite. Children who are intimidated and frightened by the interviews will be reluctant to share information with ORR personnel concerning their parents and legal guardians, foreclosing reunification in the loving homes of family members while leading to indefinite stays in ORR custody and potentially less secure sponsor placements. Children facing trafficking or abuse could now turn silent, even as their perpetrators grow bolder and their mistreatment intensifies. Children otherwise planning to attend their immigration court hearings in fulfillment of their legal obligations and to seek lifesaving protection might wonder if ICE agents will appear in courthouses too.
More broadly, these interviews are contrary to Congress’s careful separation of ORR and DHS functions. The bipartisan Homeland Security Act of 2002 took pains to distinguish ORR’s child welfare mission from the immigration enforcement duties assigned to DHS components, in recognition that when those lines blur, children’s best interests suffer.
Among other actions, the elimination of guardrails restricting ORR information-sharing with DHS for purposes of immigration enforcement; ORR-coordinated sponsor identification check-ins at which sponsors lacking immigration status have faced arrest by ICE; ORR’s overnight handoff of Guatemalan children into ICE custody for purposes of summarily returning them despite their fear of return; and these HSI interviews described as facilitating the family reunification process that Congress vested in ORR, run counter to Congress’s intent and increasingly spur a perception among unaccompanied children and their families that the two agencies are one.
We are confident that more effective solutions can be forged to protect the safety of unaccompanied children. We would welcome stakeholder engagement to explore those solutions together. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Acacia Center for Justice
The Advocates for Human Rights
Al Otro Lado
Ayuda
Church World Service
The Door – A Center of Alternatives, Inc.
Estrella del Paso
Florence Immigrant & Refugee Rights Project
Galveston-Houston Immigrant Representation Project (GHIRP)
HIAS Pennsylvania
Immigration Center for Women and Children Immigration Defenders Law Center (ImmDef)
Jewish Family and Community Services of Pittsburgh
Justice in Motion
Kids in Need of Defense
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Latino Memphis
Michigan Immigrant Rights Center
Mid-South Immigration Advocates
Orlando Center for Justice
Public Counsel
Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN)
Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights