AdvertisementZain Lakhani, WRC’s director of migrant rights and justice, estimates hundreds of parents deported to Honduras have been separated from their families. But even during that time —the most notorious and sweeping example of family separation in recent history — there were more robust directives in place that were meant to minimize family separation. More than 30 children in seven states have entered foster care after their parents were deported, a NOTUS investigation found, and there are likely many more since there’s no comprehensive national database that tracks where kids end up after their parents are deported. “We didn’t go in thinking we were going to find so many instances of really forcible family separation,” Heisler said. AdvertisementThere are now six times as many children detained in ICE detention centers as there were at the beginning of 2025, according to The Marshall Project.

Source: Huffington Post February 14, 2026 15:08 UTC