Detention refers to the experience of being held by government authorities and unable to leave freely. For unaccompanied children, that can look very different depending on the country, agency, and legal system – from protective custody focused on care and reunification, to facilities that function more punitively. Understanding which form a child is experiencing is critical to understanding their rights, their treatment, and what happens next.

Children often first enter border reception, where authorities verify their identity, conduct safety and protection screenings, and determine what should happen next. This stage takes place in holding facilities, migration stations, or other processing centers and is intended to be brief. When a child cannot be quickly reunited with family or transferred to a safe placement, they enter longer-term government custody, while authorities identify a vetted, safe sponsor or status determination. This initial period involves shelters or licensed care facilities, though secure or detention-like settings are used as well.

What may be labeled temporary or protective can still function as confinement, and confinement has consequences for children. Time in custody can separate children from family, interrupt access to quality education and legal support, and increase fear and isolation, especially for children who have already experienced violence, trafficking, and abuse.  Research and child-welfare guidance have long recognized that prolonged detention can harm children’s development and well-being.

KIND believes children should not face prolonged or unnecessary detention and works to uphold the legal protections against it that the Flores Settlement Agreement and the TVPRA are meant to guarantee. For unaccompanied and separated children in custody, this means Know Your Rights presentations and legal screenings that help them better understand their rights, immigration options, and what to expect as their cases move forward. KIND also connects children with legal support and advocates for safe, timely release from custody whenever possible, so children do not have to navigate detention or immigration proceedings alone.

Key Legal Frameworks

The rules governing child immigration detention are meant to protect children from prolonged confinement, unsafe conditions, and unnecessary separation from family. But those protections vary depending on the country and context. Understanding these distinctions matters because they determine what rights a detained child has in custody, what agency is responsible for their care, and what standards apply to their treatment and release. Below are the key definitions that shape how detention affects children on the move.

Under U.S. federal law, children who arrive at or cross the border without legal immigration status may be taken into custody by Customs and Border Protection (CBP), the immigration enforcement arm of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA) sets out specific protections for unaccompanied children in federal custody, but those protections differ depending on a child’s country of origin. Children from noncontiguous countries (those other than Mexico and Canada) must have their status determined within the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) — a child welfare agency within the Department of Health and Human Services — within 72 hours. Children from countries contiguous to the United States, (i.e., Mexico and Canada), by contrast, undergo a CBP screening to assess trafficking indicators, fear of return, and whether the child can make an independent decision. If CBP determines none of these apply, the child may be screened out and repatriated without being transferred to ORR or placed in formal removal proceedings–a process that happens far faster, and with fewer safeguards, than what all other unaccompanied  children receive. Children arriving with their families may be held in ICE family detention facilities, which is a separate system from ORR. In all cases, children in U.S. immigration custody retain rights under federal law and court settlements governing the conditions and duration of their detention.

The Flores Settlement Agreement, established in 1997 following a landmark lawsuit on behalf of an immigrant child who was held in government detention for a prolonged period of time, sets legally binding minimum standards for how the U.S. government must treat children in immigration custody. Flores requires that children be held in “safe and sanitary” conditions in the “least restrictive setting” possible, and that they be released from government custody without “unnecessary delay.” The settlement creates a presumption in favor of releasing children to a parent, relative, or licensed caregiver rather than holding them in detention. Flores applies to all children in federal immigration custody — both unaccompanied children and those held with their families — and has been the primary legal tool advocates have used to challenge harmful detention conditions and prolonged custody.

Children in U.S. immigration detention may be held by different federal agencies depending on their age, whether they are accompanied, and where they are in the immigration process. CBP — a law enforcement agency — operates short-term holding facilities at the border used during initial processing. These facilities are not designed for children and have been widely documented as harmful, with reports of overcrowding, inadequate food and water, and freezing temperatures, and lack of professionals trained in child welfare. Unaccompanied children must be transferred within 72 hours to ORR, which is a child welfare agency that contracts with shelters and care programs. ORR facilities are held to higher care standards than CBP holding cells and must provide education, medical care, and access to legal services. However, children can remain in ORR custody for extended periods — sometimes months — while sponsors are identified and vetted. Children who turn 18 while in ORR custody may be transferred to ICE adult detention, a transition that advocates have consistently challenged as harmful.

Mexico prohibits the detention of immigrant children under its domestic law. Legal reforms enacted in 2020 explicitly established that Mexico’s National Immigration Institute (INM) must immediately identify and refer migrant children to child protection actors rather than detaining them. Under this framework, the federal and state-level Offices for Child Protection and Departments of Family Services (DIF) are responsible for protecting and housing migrant children, and migrant children and their families should receive temporary humanitarian status. The prohibition reflects international child rights standards and was a significant legal reform in how Mexico treats children on the move.

Despite the legal prohibition, thousands of children — including unaccompanied and separated children — continue to be detained each year by Mexico’s INM in detention centers and “channeling centers” (centros de canalización). Additionally, conditions in many DIF Social Assistance Centers (CAS) have been noted by observers to be detention-like in practice: CAS personnel have sole authority to determine when and under what conditions children may leave, and facilities often fail to provide recreational activities or access to the outdoors. The gap between Mexico’s legal framework and the lived reality for migrant children remains significant, and advocacy to enforce existing protections and improve care conditions is ongoing.

For a child, detention means being held in a government facility — often a large institutional space with little privacy, limited outdoor access, and no familiar faces. It means sleeping in a room with strangers, navigating bureaucratic processes in a language that may not be their own, and waiting — sometimes for weeks or months — without knowing what will happen next. For children who have already experienced trauma, violence, or dangerous journeys, this uncertainty compounds existing harm. Research consistently documents that detention causes anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress in children, and that even short periods of detention can have lasting developmental consequences. KIND’s position is grounded in evidence: prolonged detention is not an appropriate setting for children, and every child in immigration custody deserves legal representation, mental health support, and a timely path to safety.

The Scale of the Problem

Children in Detention: What the Numbers Show

Immigration detention of children is not a rare or exceptional occurrence. In the United States, tens of thousands of children pass through federal immigration custody each year — through CBP holding facilities, ORR shelters, and ICE family detention centers. Policies that accelerate removal proceedings, deter sponsors, or restrict alternatives to detention directly increase the number of children held and the length of time they remain in custody. KIND tracks these trends closely, because every day a child spends in detention is a day of harm that cannot be undone.

Sourced from: supportkind.org — Mapping Migrant Children in Detention PDF
180
ORR-contracted facilities across 21 U.S. states housing children in immigration custody
72
Hours — the legal maximum CBP may hold an unaccompanied child before transfer to ORR
190
Average length of stay for children in detention in 2025

Why Children Experience Detention

Detention does not happen in a vacuum. Children experience detention at different points within migration systems. Some children are held during border processing, identification, and safety screenings. Others remain in custody while officials process their cases or identify and approve safe sponsors. Enforcement practices, bureaucratic delays, and failures to uphold legal safeguards can then turn temporary custody into prolonged detention, even where child immigration detention is prohibited.

Understanding these pathways reveals where stronger protections and accountability are needed.

Detained at the Border

For many children, detention begins the moment they encounter immigration authorities. Children who present themselves at a U.S. port of entry or are apprehended crossing between ports of entry are taken into CBP custody for processing. CBP holds children in short-term detention facilities during this initial phase — facilities that have been described by children themselves as “iceboxes” and “dog kennels”: cement cells kept at extremely low temperatures, large rooms with chain-link pens, bright lights on continuously, children sleeping on mats on concrete floors. Federal oversight agencies, journalists, and advocates have documented years of violations of minimum care standards in these facilities, including inadequate food and water, overcrowding, and prolonged detention lasting days or weeks beyond legal limits. KIND advocates for immediate reforms to ensure children are received at the border by humanitarian professionals — not law enforcement — and transferred rapidly to appropriate care settings.

Prolonged Custody in ORR Shelters

After CBP, unaccompanied children are transferred to ORR shelters — a more protective environment, but still an institutional setting with real limitations. Children are meant to stay in ORR custody only as long as it takes to identify and vet a safe sponsor, typically a parent or close family member. But policy changes have increasingly extended children’s time in custody. Information-sharing agreements between ORR and ICE have deterred sponsors from coming forward out of fear of immigration enforcement, leaving children in shelters for months. Accelerated docket policies have required children to prepare immigration cases from within detention, without family support. ORR’s recent shift toward in-person sponsor interviews and increased law enforcement presence has further delayed reunification. KIND has documented how each of these policy decisions compounds children’s trauma and extends the time they spend in an institutional setting — separated from family, and waiting.

Detained in Transit: Mexico's Immigration Enforcement

For children migrating through Mexico toward the United States, detention can occur before they ever reach the U.S. border. Despite a legal prohibition under Mexican law, thousands of children — including unaccompanied and separated children — continue to be detained annually by Mexico’s National Immigration Institute (INM). Children are held in detention centers and “channeling centers” along both Mexico’s northern and southern borders. Even facilities managed by Mexico’s child protection system (DIF Social Assistance Centers) operate under conditions that observers have described as detention-like: children cannot leave without staff permission, outdoor access is limited, and recreational activities are minimal. KIND México works in Tijuana, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico City, and Tapachula — operating directly along these migration corridors — to provide legal orientations, psychosocial support, and advocacy for children caught in Mexico’s immigration system.

How KIND Supports Children Experiencing Detention

Detention is one of the most acute circumstances a child on the move can face. It combines the trauma of immigration itself with the disorientation of institutional confinement — often without a trusted adult present, without legal representation, and without a clear timeline. KIND’s response to detention is built on the same integrated model that guides all our work: legal protection, psychosocial support, and advocacy — deployed together, because no single intervention is sufficient.

A child in detention needs more than one form of support. They need a lawyer who can advocate for their release and represent their case. They need mental health support to process what they are experiencing and to participate in proceedings that will shape their future. And they need policy advocates working to strengthen safeguards and prevent unnecessary or prolonged detention. KIND provides all three.

Psychosocial Support

Detention can cause serious psychological harm to children. Anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress, and what practitioners call “detention fatigue” — a state of psychological exhaustion caused by prolonged confinement and uncertainty — are well-documented outcomes for children held in immigration custody. For children who arrived already carrying trauma from violence, abuse, or dangerous journeys, detention can compound existing harm and make it harder to begin healing. .

KIND’s psychosocial approach supports detained and formerly detained children as whole people. Through the CARE framework — Connect, Assess, Respond, Educate — KIND’s trained practitioners provide trauma-informed, child-centered support to children in ORR custody and those navigating the fear of detention or deportation. This includes coping tools, connections to mental health care, crisis intervention, and guidance for service providers working with children in low-resource, detained settings. KIND also connects children and families to education support and medical services as part of a comprehensive psychosocial response.

Psychosocial support is not separate from legal representation; it helps make meaningful legal participation possible When children are  overwhelmed by trauma, they struggle to share experiences, understand their options, and engage in immigration proceedings that will determine their future. By integrating psychosocial care with legal services, KIND ensures that children can stabilize, be heard, and participate more fully in their case.

Impact of Legal Representation on Children Experiencing Detention

No child should navigate immigration detention without legal representation. Decisions made during detention — about a child’s release, their placement, their immigration case— can shape the rest of their life. Yet  many face these decisions alone, without a lawyer to advocate for them or explain their rights.

Legal representation changes what happens to detained children at every stage. A lawyer can challenge unlawful detention conditions, advocate for a child’s release to a safe sponsor, ensure due process is upheld, and provide the skilled representation children need in immigration court. KIND and our pro bono partners provide legal services for unaccompanied children facing immigration proceedings — including those in ORR custody and those at risk of ICE detention. Our network of over 800 pro bono partners — law firms, corporations, law schools, and bar associations — extends KIND’s capacity to reach children who would otherwise face the system alone.

The Role of Advocacy in Protecting Detained Children

Laws and policies shape whether children are detained, how long they remain, what conditions they endure, and whether their rights are protected throughout the process. These are not abstract legal questions — they have immediate, real consequences for children’s safety and well-being. When policies are designed without children’s best interests at the center, children suffer. Advocacy helps close the gap by improving accountability and pushing systems toward child-appropriate care, family unity, and timely release.

KIND’s policy and advocacy work engages directly with the institutions that shape detention policy — the U.S. Congress, federal agencies including ORR and DHS, and international bodies including the United Nations and the European Union. We educate policymakers about how detention affects children, push for reforms that center child welfare over enforcement, and build coalitions to support lasting change. KIND’s Keeping Kids Safe campaign is the centerpiece of this long-term advocacy effort — a 10-year initiative to transform the laws and systems that govern how unaccompanied children are treated.

Key Legal Protections

The Flores Settlement and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA)

Two legal frameworks sit at the center of efforts to protect children in U.S. immigration detention: the Flores Settlement Agreement and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA). The Flores Settlement, established in 1997, requires that children be held in safe and sanitary conditions in the least restrictive setting possible, and released without unnecessary delay. It creates a legal presumption in favor of release over detention and has been the primary tool advocates have used to challenge harmful custody conditions for more than two decades. Among its key provisions: children may not generally be held in unlicensed family detention facilities for more than 20 days, and all children in federal immigration custody must be treated in accordance with minimum care standards. Recent federal policy changes affecting ORR custody have weakened these protections. New sponsor vetting requirements — including mandatory in-person interviews with potential law enforcement presence — have deterred family members from stepping forward, leaving children in ORR shelters for months rather than days. Broad information-sharing agreements between ORR and ICE have compounded this deterrent effect. KIND has documented how these policies are driving the prolonged and, in some cases, indefinite detention of unaccompanied children — in direct conflict with the spirit and requirements of Flores and the TVPRA. KIND is actively litigating, advocating, and publishing to reverse these policies and restore the child-centered protections that Flores and the TVPRA were designed to uphold.

Where KIND Works

Where KIND Intervenes for Children Experiencing Detention

KIND provides legal representation and psychosocial support to unaccompanied children in U.S. immigration detention — from CBP holding facilities to ORR shelters to ICE custody.

United States

KIND in México works along Mexico's northern and southern borders to protect children detained or at risk of detention by México's immigration enforcement system.

Mexico