ICE placing kids in shelters, though, when they have parents or guardians to care for them, echoes the widely condemned policy of separating families at the border in Trump’s first term attorneys said: “They are creating unaccompanied children this way.” 8/ www.propublica.org/article/ice-...

The Trump administration said Biden was too lax in releasing hundreds of thousands of minors who showed up at the border alone and then losing track of them and some ended up in danger. It has launched a national effort to search for them around the country. 7/

Some parents have already been detained when they came forward to try to get their children released from shelters. “They are using the kids as bait,” said one attorney. 6/

We also learned that children crossing the border alone are being warned that if they don’t choose to leave the country, they will face prolonged detention and their parents could be arrested. 5/

Once the kids are in custody, they are getting stuck in federal shelters for longer than ever. The average length of stay has grown from one month to six months since Trump took office as the admin says it has increased vetting requirements for sponsors to ensure their safety 4/

We found ICE has sent more than 600 kids into shelters this year: A new record. In some cases children were found alone or in danger. But most of the time they were taken in when agents showed up looking for someone else, or after being pulled over 3/

One kid we found was Carlos, 15, who was in a vehicle pulled over for a cracked windshield. His aunt, who is his legal guardian and a legal resident, showed up to take him home. Instead he was sent to a shelter for months 2/

You can look through our full database here and reach out if you have information to share 10/:
projects.propublica.org/venezuelan-i...

This is the result of a big team of journalists and editors in the US and Venezuela @melissa-sanchez.bsky.social @perla-trevizo.bsky.social Ronna Rísquez, Adrián González, Adriana Núñez Moros, Carlos Centeno, Gabriel Sandoval, Jeff Ernsthausen, Ruth Talbot, Cengiz Yar, Zisiga Mukulu and more 9/