ICE Separated 145,000 Children From Their Parents Since 2025, Study Estimates

Over 145,000 U.S.-citizen children have had at least one parent booked into ICE detention since January 2025. More than 22,000 children have had both live-in parents detained. The estimate is higher than earlier reporting because ICE data undercounts the true number. ICE reported 18,277 detained parents with U.S.-citizen children in September 2025, which Brookings describes as an undercount. ICE regulations require asking detainees about children, but the study says this often does not occur and some detainees avoid disclosing children due to fear. Brookings matched detainees to American Community Survey data and found about 27% of detainees have a minor child at home and 20% have U.S.-citizen children at home.

"Brookings estimates that over 145,000 children who are U.S. citizens have had at least one of their parents booked into detention since Trump reentered the White House in January 2025. Over 22,000 of these children have had both of their live-in parents detained, the study estimates. This number is far greater than previously understood."

"In March, ProPublica estimated that ICE had detained parents of at least 11,000 U.S. citizen children in the first seven months of Trump's second term - nearly 50 children a day - and that the number could have reached about 22,000 by March. But this estimate used ICE data, which Brookings states is undercounting the actual numbers."

"In September 2025, ICE reported a total of 18,277 parents detained who had U.S. citizen children, which Brookings states is certainly an undercount. While ICE regulations require that the agency ask detainees if they have children, the study says that in practice, this regularly does not happen, and some detainees avoid mentioning their children out of fear of what might happen to them or to others in their network."

"Brookings instead matched detainees to individuals surveyed in the American Community Survey (ACS), a national household survey updated each month, and found that about 27 percent of detainees have a minor child at home, and 20 percent have U.S. citizen children at home."

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