“Of all the years I’ve been here, this has been the most unusual and difficult year we’ve had. The emergency began on January 31 [2025], due to the change in government under the new [US] president. The difference is that now they are being mistreated more in [US] detention centers, especially. […] And there are many cases of people who have been separated from their families, many cases. If you ask those who came today, if you had asked who left children in the United States, 80 percent would raise their hands.” Medical worker who works with deportees at La Lima Reception Center

“Todos los años que he estado aquí, el año más atípico o más difícil que hemos tenido ha sido este año. La emergencia inició prácticamente el 31 de enero, año por lo del cambio de gobierno del presidente. La diferencia es que ahora están siendo más maltratados en los centros detención sobre todo. […] Si usted le pregunta a los que vinieron hoy, si hubieran preguntado quiénes dejaron hijos en Estados Unidos, el 80 por ciento levanta la mano.” Trabajadora medicaque trabaja con deportados en el Centro de Recepción La Lima

Executive Summary

Since taking office in January 2025, the second Trump administration has rapidly expanded immigration enforcement, including detention and deportation of individuals living in the US interior. At the same time, the administration has weakened or disregarded numerous existing laws, policies, and safeguards designed to ensure due process, protect family unity, and preserve parental rights, with profound consequences for immigrant families and receiving countries. Detentions and deportations are likely to accelerate significantly, as the administration continues to implement the $170 billion dollars Congress provided for immigration enforcement under H.R.1, the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

Unlike in prior years, when the deported population largely consisted of individuals and families that had recently crossed the US-Mexico border, the second Trump administration has primarily targeted longtime US residents, many of whom have lived in the country for years or even decades. The pace and scale of immigration enforcement has increased exponentially; immigration arrests more than quadrupled in 2025, leading to the highest rates of immigration detention in US history. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) own data confirms that 92 percent of the detention increase has been driven by people without any criminal record. Many of those detained and deported are parents with US citizen children.

Significant numbers of detained and deported parents are experiencing violations of US policy designed to protect family unity and parental rights. However, there is little publicly available information to assess the scope and scale of those violations, which include deporting parents without providing them an opportunity to bring their children with them. When parents are deported quickly and without an opportunity to arrange for the care of their children, their children often remain in the US without stable caregivers or support. Many remain in the informal care of friends, family members, or even babysitters, often without formal custody arrangements or legal protections. Their caregivers may themselves be vulnerable to immigration enforcement, leaving these children in even more precarious circumstances.

To begin addressing this information gap, the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) traveled to San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

Researchers co-located with service providers in the reception centers that receive deportees and conducted dozens of interviews with reception center staff, physicians and psychologists, government officials, and deportees themselves.

Researchers uncovered significant violations of the administration’s directive on detained parents, which requires that parents facing deportation be given an opportunity to decide what will happen to their children. From the cases researchers observed, these violations are leading to many family separations that, absent meaningful assistance with reunification, may become long-term or even permanent.

Researchers also uncovered significant abuses of pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women detained in violation of US policy.

Key Findings Include:

• ICE is violating its own requirements to prevent family separations. Violations observed by WRC and PHR include:
  • ICE is often not asking the people they arrest if they have children.
  • ICE is often not ensuring that children of the people they arrest are safe, even when parents notify arresting agents that their children will be left alone, or urgently ask to make immediate care arrangements for them.
  • ICE is often not allowing parents to decide what will happen to their children if they are deported, and in some cases is disregarding written attestations by parents who wish to be reunified with their children before removal.
• Significant numbers of parents interviewed were deported without their children. Many were never asked if they had children or given the opportunity to bring their children with them. Some parents were separated from infants, including one mother separated from a baby less than two-months old.
• Children who are left behind in the US when their parents are deported often face precarious or uncertain living situations. Many parents reported leaving their children in the informal care of friends or family members.
• Pregnant, postpartum, and lactating women are being detained without access to adequate nutrition and medical care. Some were denied access to essential healthcare despite being in acute medical distress.
• Receiving countries like Honduras lack the necessary infrastructure, financial support, and basic information from the US government to help efficiently reunify separated families, which could lead to long-term separations.

While not the focus of this study, nearly every person interviewed discussed the dehumanizing and traumatizing treatment they experienced while in immigration detention. Most described inedible food, lack of privacy (including having to undress, shower, and use the toilet in front of other people), denial of medical treatment and medications, and pervasive verbal mistreatment. Many described not being able to contact their families or their attorneys. All were exhausted after frequent transfers between detention facilities throughout the US and multiple flights before arriving in Honduras. This report honors their stories.