More Than 500 Babies and Toddlers Detained by ICE During President Donald Trump’s Second Term

Hundreds of babies and toddlers have been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement during President Donald Trump‘s second term, according to a recent analysis of ICE detention records conducted by The Marshall Project and MS Now.

The report, published on Tuesday, June 9, found that ICE detained more than 500 children age 3 and younger between January 2025 and March 2026. During that period, roughly 25 babies and toddlers were being held in ICE detention centers on an average day. It’s a significant increase compared to the fewer than three per day who were held on average under the Biden administration.

According to the report, at least 175 of the children were held for more than 20 days. A federal judge previously determined that 20 days is the maximum amount of time migrant children should be held under the Flores Settlement Agreement, which governs the treatment of minors in immigration custody.

The increase comes after the Trump administration resumed family detention and reopened the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, a facility that houses families with children.

Marsha Griffin, cofounder of the Executive Committee of the American Academy of Pediatrics’ Council on Immigrant Child and Family Health, spoke with MS Now and called infancy and toddlerhood “probably the most harmful time of their lives to have them in detention.”

“Our immigration system is breaking children,” she added.

According to the report, some parents in ICE detention reported conditions they say left their small children sick, isolated and struggling with developmental setbacks.

However, in a statement to People on Thursday, June 11, the Department of Homeland Security said that “ICE is not targeting children or separating families.”

“Where is the media concerns for the humanitarian crisis that was manufactured by the Biden Administration’s open border policies over the last four years and the scores of children exploited, trafficked and missing,” the statement continued. “Are you going to mention the psychiatric impact on the tens of thousands of children who were smuggled across the border — many by human and sex traffickers?”

An agency spokesperson for ICE also said in a separate statement to MS Now that families in custody receive appropriate food, water and medical care. In a separate court filing, ICE stated that it works to release minors from custody “as promptly as possible.”