“The time has come for you to leave.” Thus, a letter from the National Security Department sent these days to migrant minors who learned in the US unaccompanied. “A few weeks ago a letter began to be distributed through the country, on June 20, 2025, which is said to be canceled the permit granted when entering the country and that the time has come to leave the US,” explains activist Julie Contreras, of the United Giving Hope religious organization, from Waukegan (Illinois) in conversation with Eldiario.es. And he adds that he has records of hundreds of similar letters sent to kids who legally entered the US during the last year with a humanitarian conditional permit as unaccompanied minors, and then met with parents, usually without papers, or other relatives who already lived in the United States.
Despite this reunification, minors cannot be legally represented by their parents in immigration views due to the way they entered the country – only and with that temporary permit – so they need lawyers to be able to defend their case, something that is not easy for a minor.
Defending groups of the rights of immigrants, such as the one that represents Contreras, warn that these cases are increasing your deportation without guarantees.
Contreras, founder of United Giving Hope, an organization that supports migrant families in Illinois, tells how Xally Pastor, a 13 -year -old girl who has received one of the letters, obtained humanitarian conditional permit as less not accompanied, and met with his older sisters in Waukegan, 75 kilometers from Chicago.
During the last decade, Contreras has helped hundreds of children legally cross the southern border in search of asylum, helping them with paperwork and connecting them with lawyers who support their cases. “These children are not the criminals Trump said that ICE would persecute. They are victims of human rights violations and are being terrified. The sole threat causes severe psychological trauma,” says Contreras.
Xally's mother, for example, Francisca Petra Guzmán, 48, arrived in the US in January, also as a asylum seeker. Both, explains Contreras, fled a violent context in their country.
Trump has been returning at a crusade against migration, which has now accentuated the persecution of minors. However, the reception of this letter does not automatically mean that the ICE will be presented at the house of minors or at their school to deport them, explains the lawyer specialized in immigration matters John Antia to the Chicago Tribune.
Many of these children could benefit from other forms of legal protection. But, for this, they must resort to a lawyer, which is usually out of the reach of families. “That ICE can legally stop these children depends largely on the immigration status of each and their individual circumstances,” says Antia.
In the case of Xally, with whom Eldiario.es has spoken, he arrived at the Chicago area in September last year, after having spent almost a month in a federal center in Texas administered by the refugee relocation office, with other minors that, like her, had crossed the southern border in search of asylum.
Deportation of minors
In April, the immigration courts ordered the deportation of more than 8,300 children of 11 years or less. This is the highest figure for that age group in any month since the follow -up began more than 35 years, according to judicial data from the access center to transactional records, collected by The Independent.
Since Trump assumed the position in January, the judges have ordered the deportation of more than 53,000 immigrant children: most of these children are of primary school age or are minors. Approximately 15,000 were under 4 years and another 20,000 were between 4 and 11 years old. Teenagers have also been affected, with 17,000 with deportation orders, although that figure is still below the peak registered in 2020, during Trump's first mandate, according to The Independent.
Some of these children are unaccompanied, such as Xally, but it is not known how many, since immigration authorities no longer register that data.
Tricia McLaughlin, undersecretary of the DHS, in a statement sent by email to the Tribune, said that “the accusations that ICE is 'pointing' to children are false and an attempt to demonize the forces of order.” McLaughlin added that the customs immigration and control service (ICE) “does not focus on children or sports or separates families.” On the other hand, “ICE asks mothers if they want to be deported with their children or if the child must be located with a safe person designated by the father or mother.” However, the Tribune affirms, the questions about why letters are sent to unaccompanied minors, such as Xally, and what is the protocol to deport them, as indicated in the letter, were left unanswered.
Self -export of minors
The Trump administration is ordering customs and border protection officials (CBP) to place migrant adolescents to self -lead to their countries of origin, instead of being sent to government shelters, which is a change in US immigration policy, according to They reported the CNN y CBS News.
For many years, US immigration officials had to transfer all unaccompanied migrant children – or those who entered the country without permission and without their parents or legal guardians – to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The HHS supervises a network of shelters where these minors remain until they turn 18 or can be relocated to someone who assumed care, who has traditionally been a relative resident in the United States.
But now, CBP officials have been ordered to offer unaccompanied migrant children over 14 years the option of self -leading their countries of origin.
If adolescents choose that option, US immigration authorities would facilitate rapid return to their countries of origin.
Otherwise, they would be transferred to the refugee relocation office of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
This voluntary exit policy was previously limited to children not accompanied by border countries, Canada and Mexico.
The Law for the Protection of Victims of Trafficking in Persons granted special legal protections to migrants from non -border countries, including the prohibition that the authorities deported them by rapid route.
The National Security Department (DHS) told CBS that the Megaley 'One Big Beautiful Bill' allows the Trump administration to change policy.
“This is a practice that is used to prioritize the return of minors with a parent or legal guardian in their country of origin,” said the DHS in a statement. “The only change according to the 'One Big Beautiful Bill' is to expand this option for unaccompanied minors to return home from other countries, in addition to Mexico and Canada,” added the department.
How many migrant teenagers are unknown will be affected by the new order.
The number of migrants crossing the southern border of the US has collapsed at levels not seen since the 1960s, because of the repression of the Trump administration. In June, for example, the border patrol arrested 6,000 migrants on the border between the United States and Mexico, a record monthly record, which included less than 700 unaccompanied minors.
The administration has taken force measures to deport migrants who live in an irregular situation or whose legal status has been revoked. But, also, he has launched a campaign to encourage self -portations, offering $ 1,000 for the trip and threats of arrest, fines and processing if they remain irregularly in the US.
