NEW: Guards have taken away crayons, colored pencils & paper during recent room searches at Dilley, according to detainees and others. After one inspection, the children just “cried and cried and cried,” a mother said. The facility denies the claims. By @mckenziefunk.com @micarosenberg.bsky.social

NCYL's Becky Wolozin: “Liam is all the kids there. Just like Liam, we’ve had families tell us how their children have been horribly sick and throwing up repeatedly, refusing to eat and becoming despondent and listless.”

Per RAICES, a legal services provider, families detained at the Dilley ICE Family Residential Center have raised concerns over inadequate medical care on at least 700 occasions since August 2025. Family detention is inhumane.

Grateful to have US Senators, State Attorneys General's Offices, and 180+ youth and immigration organizations and experts file amicus briefs in support of the Flores Settlement Agreement.  Flores is a foundational legal safeguard for immigrant children detained in federal custody.

Our court filing last month included over 20 declarations from children & caregivers detained at Dilley, detailing horrific conditions incl denial of critical medical care, worms and mold in their food, and threat of family separation. Read their stories: youthlaw.org/wp-content/u...

5-year-old Liam is currently at Dilley, an ICE detention facility in Texas. NCYL's Neha Desai says children there have suffered a "dramatic decline in their physical and mental health;" it's "fundamentally unsafe for anyone, let alone young children." www.cbsnews.com/news/5-year-...

New from @washingtonpost.com: The government is holding immigrant teens in a PA facility with a long record of abuse. NCYL’s Becky Wolozin saw it firsthand: "ORR is sending children to a juvenile detention center who should not be there." www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

The government has essentially stopped releasing children in federal custody to their families. Children's time in custody has skyrocketed - in November, the average was more than six months. laist.com/news/politic...

The hypocrisy of those who would quote scripture asserting the preciousness of children, while they pursue new, cruel punishments for child refugees, is despicable.

NCYL's Becky Wolozin spoke with @themarshallproject.org about ICE's long-term detention of kids: "The goal of this administration is to create as much pain as possible to the most vulnerable people in the hopes that that will mean they can more easily carry out whatever their deportation goals are."

No family’s tragedy should ever be used as a reason for potential violence against other children. That is why I oppose H.R. 4371 and the ways in which it could be used to further abuse and traumatize immigrant children at the hands of the U.S. government. youtu.be/sTk8lZfKHns

Republicans want to give ICE the power to strip-search immigrant children to look for so-called “gang tattoos” and send them to prison-like facilities. Yes, the same ICE that sent men to El Salvador for soccer and autism awareness tattoos.

Republicans are weaponizing Kayla Hamilton’s tragic death to push through more cruel immigration policies that will further traumatize families. This bill does nothing to prevent child trafficking. It just promotes family separation.

We spoke directly with newcomer immigrant youth across the Bay Area for our new NCYL report, “Newcomer Immigrant Youth in the Bay Area: Uplifting Voices, Identifying Solutions.” Read more in our full report: youthlaw.org/newcomerreport

Trump Admin planning a rule to re-decide whether *every* refugee who entered under Biden meets their criteria for a refugee. That’s 230,000 people! And no appeals! www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...

The places where our children grow, dream, and belong should always be protected. They deserve to feel safe in spaces that are made for them.

ICE plans a 24/7 hotline to "track down" unaccompanied kids. NCYL's Neha Desai: “These children are then re-detained in a system that has become nearly impossible to exit.” Children deserve care and stability, not surveillance and fear. www.bloomberg.com/news/article...

🚨 Together, NCYL and @acaciajustice.bsky.social released companion reports exposing recent ORR policy changes preventing unaccompanied children’s release from custody and highlighting the devastating consequences of these children’s prolonged custody. Read more: youthlaw.org/news/two-new...

🚨 BREAKING: A district court has blocked the Trump admin from expelling Guatemalan children from the U.S. without due process. Every child deserves safety, dignity, and healing. We are proud to represent these children with @nilc.org and @icapgeorgetown.bsky.social. youthlaw.org/news/advocat...

Judge Kelly asked about Drew Ensign’s prior representation that “all of these children have their parents or guardians in Guatemala who are requesting their return.” Sarah Welch, for DOJ, agreed to withdraw that claim, saying she “can’t affirmatively represent that that is correct.”

Today is a win for due process, but this never should have happened. This admin's attempt to remove hundreds of kids in the dead of night and circumvent the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act is shameful. The courts were right to step in. www.cbsnews.com/news/guatema...

“Unaccompanied children are being used as pawns in an effort to deport as many people as possible, regardless of the human toll it takes on the most vulnerable members of our community.” - Neha Desai from @youthlaw.bsky.social Big scoop from @cnn.com's Priscilla Alvarez ↘️

I don’t think anyone is prepared for what they just did w/ ICE. This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion - making ICE bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, DEA,& others combined. It is setting up to make what’s happening now look like child’s play. And people are disappearing.

Detaining families in unlicensed, unregulated facilities for an unlimited time is a human rights violation—plain and simple. The Senate budget bill enables that cruelty. ✊🏽 Children deserve care, not cages. 📢 Tell Congress: NO on the budget bill. youthlaw.org/voteno

The Senate budget bill lets the government detain immigrant families indefinitely in unlicensed facilities. This is a direct threat to children’s health and safety. Congress must reject this cruelty. 📢 Tell Congress: NO on the budget bill. youthlaw.org/voteno

If you have been wondering how you can help in this moment, here is a place to start: The Senate budget bill guts key protections for detained immigrant children and allows indefinite family detention in unlicensed facilities. Tell Congress to vote NO on the budget bill 👇

🚨 The Senate budget bill puts immigrant children in grave danger. It guts key protections, allows indefinite family detention in unlicensed facilities, and increases children’s risk of abuse, and exploitation. 📢 Tell Congress: NO on the budget bill. youthlaw.org/voteno

Shouldn’t the NY Times headline note that this new policy breaks the law?

BREAKING: Flores counsel — NCYL, @chrclla.bsky.social‬ & @childrens-rights.bsky.social‬ — filed a motion to enforce protections for immigrant children, exposing prolonged detention, filthy conditions, family separation & abuse. The gov't is failing children. Read more: youthlaw.org/news/amid-go...

Last week: The Trump admin went to court to end basic humanitarian standards for children in immigration custody. This week: A pregnant mother and her family - including an 11-month old - were held by CBP for 24 days in a windowless cell. When someone shows you their plan, believe them.

👉 Today, the Trump administration filed a motion in court to end the Flores Settlement - an agreement that provides basic safeguards for the treatment of children in federal immigration custody. Why does this matter? Let’s break it down: 🧵👇

In a widely-expected move, the Trump admin is making yet another effort to terminate the Flores Settlement, which since the 1990s has imposed limitations on the government's treatment of children in immigration detention. They lost every effort to do this in Trump's first term.

NEW: Today, the Trump admin filed to end the Flores Settlement-an agreement that provides basic safeguards for children in federal immigration custody. We, @chrclla.bsky.social & @childrens-rights.bsky.social will keep fighting to defend these children’s health & safety. youthlaw.org/news/trump-a...

If Trump can undermine due process for immigrants here legally, he can do the same to you. What happens when he disagrees with you? What happens if he doesn’t like what you say? He’ll come after you just like he has to so many others. We must stand up for our collective rights.

Deeply grateful to the brave children and their families who made this case possible. @youthlaw.bsky.social is ready to keep fighting to get these kids home to their families.

BREAKING: Immigrant children are being detained in U.S. custody for months—even when their families are ready to bring them home. NCYL and @democracyforward.org just filed a class action lawsuit against HHS to stop it. Read more here: youthlaw.org/news/new-law...

"Children in government care are now isolated—from their families, from lawyers and other professionals who can help them ..." Trump regime’s polices are prolonging children detention & making it nearly impossible for many families to reunite. Cruelty is always their point.

The reconciliation package would also charge anyone who wants to sponsor an unaccompanied child out of an ORR shelter $8,500(!), of which $5,000 would be reimbursed years later if the child was not ordered deported "in absentia" for missing court. That's a price that would stop nearly all sponsors.

Children, no matter where they come from, deserve to live free from fear, with their families, safe in their communities. No child should ever dread going to school or outside to play thinking that ICE might deport them or their loved ones.

Because of the administration's harmful cuts to legal services funding for kids, immigrant children are left without support and representation. Our own Neha Desai, Managing Director of Children's Rights and Human Dignity, spoke with @cnn.com: edition.cnn.com/2025/04/17/p...

Trump’s State Department found no evidence linking Rumeysa Ozturk to antisemitic activity or terrorism, but ICE snatched her off the street and dispatched her to a prison 1,000 miles away with no hearing. This is a hallmark of fascist regimes and utterly incompatible with Due Process.

Even if you (wrongly) believe that some immigrants lack due process rights, what’s to stop the government from claiming that *you* are an undocumented immigrant; removing you to El Salvador; citing an “administrative error”; and refusing to do anything to bring you back? The answer is due process.

Now more than ever, defending the rights and safety of unaccompanied children is critical. In @hirono.senate.gov's press release, NCYL's @melissaadamson.bsky.social highlights the importance of this vital bill...

Big thanks to @hirono.senate.gov for being a champion for unaccompanied children! 👏 Legal representation is absolutely critical to ensuring these children's safety and welfare.

Go jumbos! 👏🐘

This is a fantastic piece of rigorous, in-depth reporting. It will make you want to pass out with rage. But definitely read it. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

Proud to be a Berkeley Law alum #gobears 🐻

Again, the fascism is already upon us.

No child should ever face a heartless immigration system without a lawyer by their side. Swipe through to learn how to take action. Take action: tinyurl.com/protect-kids Learn more: tinyurl.com/ucpwebinar Support us: immdef.org/donate