The Unraveling of ORR: A Quick and Calculated Undoing of a System Intended to Protect Children

Unaccompanied children in federal custody who would ordinarily have been released to their parents or other sponsors are trapped in custody because of the government’s new policies and sponsor vetting processes.

These new policies and processes, implemented by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) since January 2025, undermine the well-being of children and increase their vulnerability. As children remain in custody for longer and longer, their mental and physical health deteriorate.

This publication offers a comprehensive account of how the Trump Administration has dismantled ORR and undermined the protections it is legally mandated to provide unaccompanied children. It includes:

• A timeline of recent ORR policy changes;
• An overview of ORR’s current system, detailing the barriers to children’s release and the data illustrating their prolonged time in custody;
• Direct statements from children and families impacted by these policies;
• A psychologist’s perspective on the impact that these policy changes have on unaccompanied children; and
• Straightforward solutions that Congress could implement to restore ORR’s obligations to the children in its care and mitigate the extraordinary harm children in custody are currently experiencing.

For more information, or to speak to one of the publication’s authors, please email [email protected].