Federal judge blocks transfer of migrant teens to adult detention
A U.S. District Judge has temporarily halted the Trump administration's plan to move underage migrants to adult ICE facilities upon turning 18. The ruling revives a 2021 order prohibiting such transfers. Immigration advocates argue the policy aims to pressure youth into forgoing protection claims.
On October 4, 2025, U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras issued a temporary block against the Trump administration's new policy, which would transfer migrant teens from facilities run by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to adult detention centers operated by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after they turn 18.
Contreras stated that the policy violates his 2021 order, which directed ICE not to send any such migrants to its detention centers upon reaching adulthood. Underage migrants are currently held in HHS-run centers, not ICE facilities. The judge's decision came in response to a filing by several immigration rights groups, submitted just after midnight on Saturday.
This ruling follows other recent judicial interventions in Trump administration immigration actions. Last month, Judge Timothy Kelly blocked deportations of certain Guatemalan minors, noting the government could not demonstrate that parents wanted the children returned. Kelly wrote, "That explanation crumbled like a house of cards about a week later. There is no evidence before the Court that the parents of these children sought their return."
Michelle Lapointe, a lawyer for the American Immigration Council, one of the groups involved, told The Associated Press: "All of these are pieces of the same general policy to coerce immigrant youth into giving up their right to seek protection in the United States."
Lawyers for affected migrants reported that ICE had informed shelters they would take children turning 18 to detention centers, even if release plans were in place, allowing releases only on a case-by-case basis for "urgent humanitarian reasons" or "significant public benefit." Separately, reports indicate the Trump administration is offering teen migrants a $2,500 stipend to leave the U.S. voluntarily, per a letter from HHS's Office of Refugee Resettlement.
Migrant children are typically released to foster care or family if not deemed a flight risk or danger. Fox News Digital reached out to ICE for comment.