500 Babies Behind Bars: Report Reveals 10-Fold Surge in ICE Detentions Under Trump

Since Trump returned to the White House, at least 500 babies and toddlers have spent some of that pivotal window inside the custody of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement .

The numbers are brutal. A new analysis by The Marshall Project and MS NOW found that ICE held an average of 25 babies and toddlers on any given day between January 2025 and March 2026, ten times higher than under Biden, when fewer than three such children were held on an average day. Across all ages under 18, ICE detained over 6,200 children during Trump's second term, peaking at more than 550 in a single day in January 2026.

Behind every number is a face. Alsu and Azat fled Russia fearing imprisonment for opposing the Ukraine war, bringing their 1-year-old Amir, only to find themselves inside an American detention cell. Five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos , picked up in Minnesota wearing a blue bunny hat, became the symbol of a national outcry after his detention went viral. Then there is the 13-year-old girl at Dilley who attempted to take her own life after staff withheld her prescribed antidepressants, while the government simultaneously reported "no placements on suicide watch" despite documented self-harm.

The epicenter is the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, a privately run facility operated by CoreCivic for profit on taxpayer money. More than 5,600 people including newborns passed through it between April 2025 and February 2026, with families allegedly detained for months, denied asylum access, and subjected to poor medical care . A board certified paediatrician who visited described what she witnessed as "a human rights catastrophe" and said detained families had "no access to medical care, no appropriate nutrition" and that staff had "no ability to recognise potentially lethal or emergent situations."

The legal shield meant to protect these children is under direct attack. ICE held at least 175 babies and toddlers beyond the court mandated 20-day limit of the Flores settlement , a limit that was never once breached under Biden. A federal judge rejected the administration's bid to terminate Flores, but the administration has appealed , calling the settlement "a tool of the left."

DHS dismissed all reporting as a "hoax" and insisted every detainee receives "proper meals, quality water and medical treatment." The 911 calls from Dilley staff about a critically sick 2-month-old suggest otherwise.