Latino Family Separation Continues: Latina Mothers Deported and Torn From Children—Again

History often repeats itself. This is what’s happening with Trump’s administration’s attack on the Latinx community and its families. The stories of immigrant parents being separated from their children are resurfacing. Heartbreaking moments of Latina mothers and children torn apart. This time, action has transcended the border and made its way onto our mainstream USA streets and neighborhoods through ICE raids attacking Latinx households.

How the 2017 "Zero Tolerance" Policy Worked To Separate Latino Families

Donald Trump’s current take on immigrants is no surprise to us because we’ve seen similar restrictions in the past. During his former administration, the “zero-tolerance” policy separated undocumented immigrants from children older than four months old, without any official plans to bring those families together. At the border, 4,600 minors have been taken away from their legal guardians between 2017 and 2021, according to a report from the Interagency Task Force on the Reunification of Families.

How did these separations work, exactly? After arriving in US territory, adults were usually charged with “improper entry” by the US Customs and Border Protection, and were kept apart from their young ones until they faced trial. In the meantime, the US Office of Refugee Resettlement relocated the minors into shelters. This meant that when the parents came back after being convicted, they had a hard time figuring out where their children were sent.

When Joe Biden came into office, he signed three executive orders to create a task force to reunite the families and to roll back Trump’s policies. But despite the administration’s efforts, until 2024, 1,360 Latinx kids had never been reunited with their families—almost 30 percent of the cases. They can be found living with long-distance relatives in the US, with foster parents, or with other minors who also fell through the cracks of the system. 

What about the success cases? Well, some of them involved deporting the child to their homeland so they could be together with their family, but there are some mothers and fathers who take the difficult decision to leave their offspring in the United States to move on without them.

What’s Different Under Trump’s Second Term?

Is it business as usual now that Trump is back in office? Not exactly. While he reinstated control across the southern border, he has taken on new measures. For example, he suspended the US Refugee Admissions Program (USRAP) in January 2025 and heavily restricted asylum access. Another key difference is that he has shifted his primary focus from the country’s borders to inside the US, with mass ICE raid deportations that has impacted families with mixed legal statuses. 

“I don’t want to be breaking up families. So the only way you don’t break up the family is you keep them together and you have to send them all back,” he said in an interview with NBC News.

This means that US-born children with a legal status are afraid to lose their parents, even if they’ve spent decades living in the so-called “land of the free.”

Something that has been shocking the nation is the case of a 10-year-old US citizen with brain cancer whose treatment was stopped after her family had been deported to Mexico. Her parents, who worked in the agricultural sector and have no criminal records, have filed a complaint against Customs and Border Protection so she can continue receiving treatment in a Houston medical facility.

“This time we were detained and were confronted with the hardest decision to make, which was to separate permanently from our children, or be deported together,” the Latina mother said to CNN.

Another example, a Venezuelan mother was pulled over by traffic officers for questionable reasons. The situation quickly escalated after being accused of presenting a false ID and threatened with a prison sentence. When Border Patrol agents arrived, Yesenia was put in handcuffs in front of the minors, who were 6 and 9 years old, and was deported to Mexico. Only three days later did her family hear some news from her, after this Latina mother called them from Villahermosa, 2,000 miles away. In the meantime, her children were being held in Nogales and had to endure a two-day bus ride to meet their mother.

The Numbers Behind Latino Family Separation

A 2025 study by the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) has shown that 47 million immigrants are living in the US. Regarding minors, 9 million from ages 5 to 17 live in a household with at least one noncitizen adult—this equals one in six children nationwide, a number that grows to one in three (California) and to one in four (Texas, New Jersey, and Nevada). Contrary to common conservative beliefs, the sons and daughters of immigrants showcase a better performance at school than children of U.S.-born parents. But those higher outcomes are at risk due to Trump’s revocation of a policy that barred ICE arrests near sensitive locations.

The Lasting Impact on Latinx Children

“Every day I worry they could take my mom,” said Ximena, aged 11, in an interview with The New York Times.

Thankfully, there haven’t been reports of ICE intervention inside schools, but students still feel pressure and fear that saying the wrong thing could lead to their parents' deportation. A lot of kids even walk to and from school on their own to avoid suspicion, and school staff are working to find ways to support minors in these troubled times. As a result, they’ve noticed a lack of concentration and a rise in anxiety and even racial class disparities. Also, the KFF report previously mentioned states that attendance has declined since Trump came into office, which could have a direct impact on funding.

When children live in constant fear of losing their parents, they cannot thrive. A stable, united family is the foundation for emotional security, academic success, and healthy development. By tearing Latino families apart, they are creating long-term trauma that affects entire communities. It is crucial that we stand up for policies that prioritize family unity, especially in immigrant communities that face many challenges already.

Resumen en español

Las políticas migratorias de Donald Trump están teniendo un gran impacto en las familias latinas en Estados Unidos, especialmente la separación de niños y padres en la frontera. Durante su primer mandato, miles de menores fueron alejados de sus tutores sin planes claros de reunificación. Aunque el gobierno de Joe Biden intentó revertir estas medidas, cientos de niños aún no han podido reencontrarse con sus familias. En su segundo mandato, Trump ha intensificado las deportaciones, incluso dentro del país, afectando a hogares con estatus migratorios mixtos. El miedo a perder a sus padres está afectando gravemente el bienestar emocional, la educación y el desarrollo de los niños latinos, quienes no pueden prosperar bajo estas condiciones.