Trump’s ICE Has A Troubling Target: At-Risk Teenagers

The teens have grown up in the federal government’s custody. Now, the feds are keeping them from their families and putting some behind bars.

If you’re trying to arrest an 18-year-old who has driven themselves to a federal immigration office for a standard check-in, it’s best not to alarm them.

“You pretend it’s a nice, casual interview,” one Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer told HuffPost recently.

“And you wait until the very last second, until the interview’s done, to let someone know that actually, they’re not allowed to leave, and they probably should call people about their car.”

The officer knows from experience. In recent months, he said, ICE agents around the country have been tasked with targeting young people for arrest during check-ins. Specifically, they’re zeroing in on young people who initially arrived in the United States as children, without status and without a parent or guardian, and were placed for a time in the federal government’s shelter system. (The ICE officer spoke to HuffPost on the condition of anonymity so he could frankly discuss the agency’s work.)

To the government, these young people are known as “UACs,” or “unaccompanied alien children.” And thanks to laws passed by both parties in Congress and several presidents, they’re typically given special protections, including when it comes to applying for asylum and other protections from deportation. Having partially grown up in U.S. government custody, they have reason to expect their check-ins with federal officials to be uneventful.