The Trump administration arrested the parents of at least 27,000 kids in seven months
***The Guardian analyzed ICE records from January-August 2025, as advocates say the family-separation crisis will lead to generational trauma***
The Guardian’s analysis also revealed:
- During the first seven months of 2025, the administration arrested 18,400 parents – including 15,000 fathers and 3,000 mothers. They are the parents of 27,000 to 32,000 children.
- The administration arrested the parents of at least 12,000 US citizen children.
- Nearly 7,500 fathers and 1,000 mothers who were arrested had a different nationality than at least one of their children. In about half of these families, siblings had different citizenships from each other.
- On average, the Trump administration has been arresting about 2,300 parents each month and deporting 1,400 parents every month. The Biden administration, in comparison, deported about 700 per month in 2024.
Taken together, these figures capture the vast scope of a new family separation crisis created by the US government, human rights advocates said, a crisis that has far surpassed in scale the “zero tolerance” policy of the first Trump administration, when the US systematically separated immigrant children from their parents at the US-Mexico border.
The Guardian’s analysis also revealed:
- During the first seven months of 2025, the administration arrested 18,400 parents – including 15,000 fathers and 3,000 mothers. They are the parents of 27,000 to 32,000 children.
- The administration arrested the parents of at least 12,000 US citizen children.
- Nearly 7,500 fathers and 1,000 mothers who were arrested had a different nationality than at least one of their children. In about half of these families, siblings had different citizenships from each other.
- On average, the Trump administration has been arresting about 2,300 parents each month and deporting 1,400 parents every month. The Biden administration, in comparison, deported about 700 per month in 2024.
Taken together, these figures capture the vast scope of a new family separation crisis created by the US government, human rights advocates said, a crisis that has far surpassed in scale the “zero tolerance” policy of the first Trump administration, when the US systematically separated immigrant children from their parents at the US-Mexico border.