McALLEN, Texas —
Two advocacy organizations have initiated a federal lawsuit challenging new vetting processes implemented by the Trump Administration that aim at reuniting children who entered the U.S. without their parents. The suit, filed by the National Center for Youth Law and Democracy Forward in a federal court in Washington D.C., seeks to put a stop to procedures critics argue are elongating family separations and causing undue hardship.
The lawsuit targets the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Office of Refugee Resettlement, urging a return to the previous protocols for reuniting families. Data referenced by these groups indicates a substantial increase in the duration that minors remain in custody before being released to sponsors, jumping from an average of 37 days in January to over 112 days by March.
In February, the administration began intensifying the review process for sponsors—these could be parents or relatives, or other approved parties—wanting to take custody of migrant children under government care. Further adjustments introduced in March and April necessitated documentation such as identification and proof of income obtainable only by those legally in the U.S. Advocacy groups are seeking judicial intervention to declare these changes illegal and to restore prior policies.
Neha Desai, managing director at the National Center for Youth Law, emphasized that these shifts impose significant burdens on families, undermining the safety and welfare of children. This, she argues, is counter to long-standing bipartisan efforts designed to uphold the interests of unaccompanied minors.
Legal representatives have recounted numerous instances of families who were on the verge of reuniting only to face indefinite delays due to the policy shift. Skye Perryman, president of Democracy Forward, criticized the administration’s approach as a departure from established child protection norms, replacing them with fear, prolonged detention, and overt bureaucracy.
A Mexican mother, speaking anonymously due to deportation fears, shared her experience of repeated reunification delays with her 8-year-old son, who is losing hope after nearly a year of waiting. Despite these setbacks, her son remains in a shelter, witnessing other children leaving while his own release remains uncertain.
The Trump administration maintains that their heightened scrutiny of sponsors is necessary to ensure the well-being of unaccompanied minors crossing the border. The Department of Health and Human Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment concerning the lawsuit.
These actions by the administration echo previous measures taken during Trump’s first term in 2018, including the zero-tolerance policy that similarly separated families and mandated that households receiving children comply with fingerprinting requirements. After observing an increase in time children spent in custody, the administration later relaxed some of these restrictions.