Some states are changing custody laws to protect children whose parents are detained by ICE.

As immigration authorities conduct mass raids, some states are passing laws aimed at keeping children out of the foster care system unless their parents have relatives or friends willing to take temporary custody of them, reports CNN.

The federal government doesn't track how many children are placed in foster care due to immigration enforcement actions. In Oregon, as of February, two children were placed in foster care after being separated from their parents due to immigration detention, according to Jake Sunderland, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Human Services.

“This has never happened before the fall of 2025,” he noted.

On the subject: US law enforcement is no longer pursuing child sex trafficking cases; they've switched to migrants.

As of mid-February, nearly 70,000 people were in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody. The record 73,000 in January's custody represented an 84% increase over the previous year. According to ProPublica, the parents of 11,000 U.S. citizen children have been detained from the start of Trump's second term through August 2025.

NOTUS reported in February that at least 32 children of detained or deported parents had been placed in foster care in seven states.

Sandy Santana, executive director of Children's Rights, a legal advocacy group, said he believes the actual number is much higher.

Separation from parents is a severe trauma for children, potentially leading to various health and mental health problems, particularly post-traumatic stress disorder. Prolonged and intense stress can lead to increased infections and developmental problems. This "toxic stress," according to KFF, is closely linked to damage to the areas of the brain responsible for learning and memory.

Maryland (New York), the District of Columbia, and Virginia amended their laws during Trump's first term to allow the appointment of temporary guardians for immigration-related reasons. Now, the increased enforcement that began after Trump's return to power last year has prompted a new wave of retaliatory measures from the states.

In New Jersey, legislators are considering a bill to amend state law that allows parents to appoint standby or temporary guardians in cases of death, incapacity, or serious illness. This bill would add separation due to federal immigration enforcement actions as another permissible basis.

Last year, Nevada and California passed laws to protect families separated by immigration enforcement. California's Family Preparedness Plan Act allows parents to appoint guardians and share custody rights rather than suspend them while in custody. If released and reunited with their children, they regain full parental rights.

There are significant legal barriers to reunification once a child is placed in state custody, said Juan Guzman, director of the child welfare and custody division at the Alliance for Children's Rights in Los Angeles.

He emphasized that if a child is placed in foster care and the parent is unable to participate in mandatory court proceedings due to detention or deportation, the likelihood of reunification is reduced.

An estimated 5,6 million U.S. citizen children live with a parent or family member without legal immigration status, according to research by the Brookings Institution, a think tank in the District of Columbia. Of this group, 2,6 million children have both parents without legal status.

Santana said he expects family separations to increase as the Trump administration's immigration campaign continues, increasing the risk of children ending up in foster care.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement guidelines require the agency to make efforts to ensure detained parents participate in family court, child welfare, or custody proceedings, but Santana said it's unclear whether ICE is following those rules.

As Guzman explained, before the law changed in California, the only way for a parent to share custody with another guardian was if that parent had a terminal illness.

If parents develop a care plan and identify a person to take custody of their children, the state child welfare agency can begin the process of placing the children with that person without opening a formal foster care case, he added.

Although Nevada lawmakers expanded the existing guardianship law last year to include immigration enforcement cases, the measure requires parents to submit notarized documents to the Secretary of State's office. This administrative step can be burdensome, noted Christian Gonzalez-Perez, an attorney with Make the Road Nevada, a nonprofit that provides resources to immigrant communities.

He says some immigrants are still hesitant to fill out state forms out of fear that ICE could access their data and target them. He reassures community members that the state forms are secure and accessible only to hospitals and courts.

The Trump administration has taken unprecedented steps to access confidential information through Medicare and Medicaid programs, the Internal Revenue Service, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and other agencies.

You may be interested in: top New York news, stories of our immigrants, and helpful tips about life in the Big Apple - read it all on ForumDaily New York

González-Pérez and Guzmán agree: few immigrant parents are aware of their rights. They believe appointing a temporary guardian and creating a family plan is one way to avoid feelings of helplessness.

"Parents are forced to talk to their children about the possibility of separation, and that's scary," Guzman concluded.

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