Abused and neglected youths granted immigration protections are being detained and deported
Abused and neglected youths eligible for green card protections face detention and deportation
Young immigrants who endured abuse or abandonment in their home countries were given a pathway to legal residency via the Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS). However, during the Trump administration, many of these youths were detained and deported. According to a letter from the Department of Homeland Security to Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev., obtained exclusively by NBC News, ICE detained 265 and deported 132 individuals with SIJS between Jan. 20 and Dec. 22 of last year.
Rachel Davidson, director of the End SIJS Backlog Coalition, criticized the actions, stating,
“They are tearing them away from the stability that they’re in, the lives that they’re building on their pathway to permanent protection.”
Congress established SIJS in 1990 to safeguard minor immigrants who had experienced abuse, abandonment, or neglect, offering them a route to green cards. Eligibility requires being under 21 at the time of application.
Due to delays in processing green card applications, a policy known as deferred action shielded SIJS recipients from deportation since 2022. This allowed them to work legally in the U.S. while awaiting their residency petitions. However, in June, the Trump administration terminated this deferred action policy, which is currently under review in a court case.
DHS claimed in a statement to NBC News that SIJS “does NOT confer lawful status.” The agency accused the program of being “infected with fraud and abuses,” citing that hundreds of adult gang members were admitted under the Biden administration. Sen. Cortez Masto emphasized,
“We have specifically identified them because they are fleeing their countries in horrific conditions. We do not want them to be further harmed or exploited in our country, so we have created specific provisions under the law so that we are looking out for their best interest.”
Emma Israel, a senior policy analyst at Kids in Need of Defense, noted that the figures DHS provided were “much higher than we expected.” The agency stated that the 132 deported individuals were charged with immigration violations like being present without authorization or lacking valid visas. Federal data did not specify whether any faced criminal charges or convictions.
One notable case involves a 16-year-old named Elias, who was deported to Guatemala in May 2025 despite being granted SIJS in July 2024. Elias arrived in the U.S. alone in 2023 after enduring “severe physical and emotional abuse and neglect at the hands of his mother,” as detailed in court documents requesting his return. He was placed with his father and relatives in Louisiana after being released from immigration custody.
“The physical abuse was so severe that he was admitted to the hospital for his injuries,” the complaint explained. “The neglect he faced was constant: Elias was often left alone for days or even weeks without access to food. Although other family members tried to help, he lived in fear of his mother and her partner, and his home became a place of anxiety and danger.”
Deferred action for Elias was terminated in April 2024 “without providing any advance notice or an opportunity to respond, and without any explanation,” the complaint stated. A month later, his father was briefly detained by ICE and instructed to return to Guatemala with his son.
“In the early hours of May 21, 2025, ICE agents deported Elias to Guatemala, without any removal order, after holding him in a hotel room in Alexandria, Louisiana for roughly 12 hours,”
the National Immigration Project noted in a lawsuit announcement. “They did not allow Elias contact with his attorney. ICE’s actions were a flagrant violation of federal law and Elias’ constitutional rights.”
DHS responded by asserting that Elias “was NOT illegally removed” and that “the father and son received full due process and were ordered removed by an immigration judge. The father chose to be removed with his son.” Elias’ lawsuit remains active, while other youths continue to be held in ICE custody.
