Trump Administration Shared Data on Migrant Children That Led to More Than 12,000 Arrests

More than 12,000 people have been arrested by United States immigration officers after the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) shared information with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during President Donald Trump‘s second term.

According to a report from Reuters published on Tuesday, July 28, the agency provided ICE with more than 460,000 “investigative leads” involving unaccompanied migrant children, their sponsors and other members of their households since January 2025.

ORR is the agency that houses migrant children who arrive in America without a parent or guardian until they can be released to someone known as a “sponsor.” The sponsor is usually a parent or relative.

In the past, information gathered during the sponsorship process has been kept separate from ICE, but Reuters reported that some critics say that’s changed under Trump’s administration.

The actions have drawn criticism from former ORR officials. Jen Smyers, who worked as the agency’s deputy director under former president Joe Biden, told the outlet that the protections which limited information sharing between the two agencies have been “completely reversed.”

“They are weaponizing a child welfare program for the purposes of more deportations,” she added.

A spokesperson for ORR told the news agency that the department “plays no role in the apprehension of children.”

Federal officials also told Reuters that information-sharing is intended to help locate children who may have been placed with “unvetted sponsors.” However, advocates for immigration say that it discourages families from trying to reunite with their children because they’re afraid of being deported.