Minnesota’s unaccompanied minors face scrutiny at home, hurdles in court

This story is from Sahan Journal, a nonprofit newsroom dedicated to covering Minnesota’s immigrants and communities of color. Sign up for their free newsletter to receive stories in your inbox.

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Alma and her daughter had just left their home in southern Minnesota on a June afternoon when she glanced at her car’s side mirror and saw two gray trucks heading towards their house. She sensed that something was wrong. 

She told her daughter to call the other children at home. 

“I’m pretty sure that’s immigration,” Alma thought to herself.

Alma immediately turned her car around and saw two federal agents standing outside the front door, which was locked. Alma’s children and other children she cares for had feared a day like this would come. 

“They don’t feel free anymore,” said Alma, who is being referred to under a pseudonym because she is a guardian for unaccompanied minors who are in the United States without legal immigration status. 

Alma’s family is one of about 30 in southern Minnesota federal agents visited in June for welfare checks on children who entered the United States without parents and immigration status, according to local attorneys. The number of visits has dropped since then for reasons that are unclear to attorneys who have been in touch with such families.

About 300 unaccompanied minors were released to caregivers in Minnesota between Oct. 1, 2024, and June 2025. Data from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services show that their numbers have grown in recent years – more than 4,000 were sent to homes in Minnesota between 2021 and 2024. Most are concentrated in Minneapolis, St. Paul, Worthington and Windom. 

All of the minors are expected to find themselves in immigration court at some point, facing a judge while navigating a complicated and daunting process. It often takes years for a minor’s case to reach a resolution, which can sometimes mean deportation even when they’ve spent more years living in the United States than in their home country. Some will struggle without family support and little to no means to hire an attorney.

At a recent visit to Fort Snelling Immigration Court in St. Paul, many unaccompanied minors completed their hearings with little fanfare with an attorney, parent or caretaker at their side, while others struggled to answer a judge’s questions without help from a lawyer or adult guardian. In one case, a judge admonished a man because his toddler had missed a previous hearing that could have resulted in the toddler’s deportation.   

“The most difficult thing is that you have a minor dealing with adult problems, very consequential decisions and processes that affect their future,” said Edwin Goss, a local immigration attorney who works with unaccompanied minors.

Many minors who cross the U.S.-Mexico border without parents and legal status are processed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). While awaiting the outcome of their deportation cases, they are designated as an “unaccompanied minor,” and are allowed to stay in the United States, oftentimes with relatives or a caregiver.  

Alma is taking care of more than one unaccompanied minor who range in age from grade school age to their early twenties, and has children of her own. 

That afternoon in June, Alma approached the two federal agents at her house. She asked why they were there, and the agents introduced themselves as U.S. Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents. Alma said the agents asked her twice if she knew one of the unaccompanied minors in her care. She refused to answer, and the agents eventually left without sharing whether they’d be back, and without explaining why they had asked about only one of the minors.   

Alma’s children and the unaccompanied minors in her care were home at the time, but stayed inside. 

“They never got in touch with the children,” she said. “It has dramatically changed everybody here. It’s been very, very stressful – just the kids, they have really bad anxiety.” 

Months before the visit, Alma had instructed the children to never open the door to anyone. She installed cameras outside of her house in response to heightened concerns about ramped up immigration enforcement. 

“I always tell them (the children), ‘Don’t open the door, no matter who it is. I’ll make sure I’ll call you guys over the cameras just to let you guys know it’s actually me,’” she said.

The surprise visits are part of the many new ways President Donald Trump’s administration is tightening immigration enforcement, according to local immigration attorneys, who said the practice was not used by other presidential administrations.

However, the unscheduled visits are causing fear and confusion for families, said local immigration lawyers and advocates, adding that some minors’ relatives have been taken into ICE custody.  

Although (ICE) cites potential exploitation as one of the main reasons for the welfare checks, Alma said the federal agents who visited her never mentioned it. ICE issued a written statement to Sahan Journal saying that “many” unaccompanied minors who crossed the border between Jan. 20, 2021, and Jan. 20, 2025, were placed with sponsors who were “smugglers and sex traffickers.”

The welfare checks led to agents discovering instances of abuse and exploitation, according to an ICE press release. They found “numerous” adult caregivers who were not properly vetted; some were paid to smuggle children into the country on fraudulent claims. 

ICE did not provide further information to corroborate the claims, and did not respond to follow-up questions.  

“DHS (U.S. Department of Homeland Security) is leading efforts to conduct welfare checks on these children throughout the United States to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited,” said the ICE statement. “ICE will continue to work with federal law enforcement partners to protect children and reunite them with their families.”

Federal agents have been checking on unaccompanied minors in Minnesota since Jan. 20, 2025, according to ICE. The welfare checks are supposed to ensure that minors are following immigration laws, and investigate any possible exploitation, according to ICE. 

The visits triggered fear in families, said local immigration attorneys, adding that families are also trying to adapt to fast-changing immigration policies that make the legal process more confusing and expensive for unaccompanied minors seeking legal status.  

Children face multiple challenges in immigration court

About 45 children between ages 5 and 17 appeared before Immigration Court Judge Brian Sardelli on Monday, July 21, for deportation hearings at Fort Snelling Immigration Court. The court day started around 8 a.m.

Most of the children appeared virtually via a livestream as they sat at home with their attorney or an adult caretaker. A few appeared alone, confused about what the court process entailed. They came from South Dakota, and from across Minnesota – Shakopee, Windom, Brooklyn Park, Maplewood and Richfield.    

Through a Spanish interpreter, Sardelli asked many of the children the same questions: “Are you going to school? What grade are you in?” 

“This will be a very routine, administrative hearing today,” Sardelli told a 17-year-old girl and her mother, who traveled from Sioux Falls, South Dakota, to attend their hearing in person.

Local immigration attorneys say children face multiple challenges in immigration court: They generally can’t drive themselves to court, hire their own attorney or work to pay for legal representation. Sometimes, they’re sent to live with adult caregivers who aren’t relatives, or who don’t have the time or money to help them.

“They’ve already gone through a lot more than the average kid has just in their journey coming here,” said Bilal Askaryar, communications director for Acacia Center for Justice, a nonprofit that provides legal representation and educational support for unaccompanied minors. “The immigration process is difficult and confusing for adults already, and then you’re having to do it as a kid yourself.”

Children who arrive in Minnesota and South Dakota typically receive a large folder of documents from the federal government, said Taneeza Islam, CEO of South Dakota Voices for Peace, a nonprofit providing legal services for victims of crime and unaccompanied minors.

Some unaccompanied minors are eligible for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status, which is a pathway to legal status for children who have been abused, neglected or abandoned by one or both parents. 

“Sometimes these kids don’t have any trusted adults in their lives, right?” Askaryar said. “They’ve been failed by the societies that they were forced to flee, so it takes a lot to build back that trust with any adults or non-family adults.” 

They could also be eligible to apply for asylum under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act, which eliminates the one-year filing deadline and some of the restrictions that are required for adults seeking asylum.   

Since the start of the year, the Trump administration has worked on eroding legal protections for unaccompanied minors, according to local immigration attorneys.  

He issued new fees for minors who apply for Special Immigrant Juvenile Status status or asylum. It now costs $250 to file for the special status and $100 for asylum; both used to be free.

The Trump administration also issued an order in mid-March cutting federal funding to a nationwide program that supports legal representatives who work with unaccompanied minors. Advocacy groups filed a federal lawsuit against the order, and a judge issued a decision temporarily halting Trump’s order. 

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services also issued a new policy last month, citing Trump’s national security order, to stop issuing work permits to minors with Special Juvenile Immigration Status who are waiting for a green card. Children with the special status were previously protected from deportation while they waited for their green card, but the new policy ended that protection. 

Some children appear in court alone

Two minors appeared without an attorney or their caregiver for their court hearings last week before Sardelli. One of them, a 16-year-old girl from Maplewood, attended in person; the other appeared via a live video feed.

“If you were 18 or above, it wouldn’t be an issue,” Sardelli said to the girl. “My concern is because of your age, that your parents or your guardian should be here, OK?” 

Unlike criminal proceedings in state and federal court, the government does not supply public defenders for children and adults in immigration court who can’t afford legal representation, although they have the right to a lawyer. 

“Unfortunately the way the system works is when you are kept before the court you’re supposed to proceed and if you can get a lawyer, great,” said Paschal Nwokocha, a Minneapolis-based immigration attorney. “If you can’t, the court would like to move those cases along.”  

The 16-year-old girl told Sardelli that she has an attorney helping her case, but she couldn’t afford to have them at her hearing. 

“I’m not trying to be difficult,” the judge told the girl, adding that her relatives made the situation difficult by sending her to court alone. Sardelli told her to return with a guardian at her next court hearing in September 2026. 

A 16-year-old boy from Rapid City, South Dakota, appeared at his first court hearing via live video feed without an attorney or adult. Sardelli said the boy did not receive permission ahead of time to attend his court hearing online. His video camera didn’t work and his internet connection was poor throughout the hearing, making it difficult to hear his voice. 

“Who do you live with?” Sardelli asked through an interpreter. 

“I live with my uncle,” the boy replied in Spanish. 

Sardelli explained a few of the options available for finding an attorney. 

“They’re seeking to remove you to Guatemala,” the judge said.

Sardelli told the boy he should submit paperwork to apply for any potential immigration protection, and that if his camera and internet connection won’t work for future hearings, he would be asked to attend court in person. 

The boy seemed confused throughout the hearing. He asked Sardelli to repeat his instructions twice. 

“Let me talk to your uncle,” Sardelli asked. 

“My uncle is at work right now,” the boy replied in Spanish. 

“Well, I expect him to be here next time,” Sardelli said. “It’s important for him to be involved in your case since you’re a juvenile.” 

Local attorneys say the boy’s situation is common, and that children in his position are more likely to lose their cases and face deportation. 

The odds are “a lot worse” for children who don’t have support from an adult or attorney, said Dana Vuong, who works with unaccompanied minors as a staff attorney at South Dakota Voices for Peace, a nonprofit that provides free immigration legal services. 

Attorneys can handle some of the responsibilities for a child’s case, but much of the pressure to support the child, such as transportation, housing and scheduling appointments, falls on their adult caregiver, according to Goss.   

“To be honest, they need help with a little bit of everything,” Goss said of children in the court system. 

Most unaccompanied minors come from Central America

The majority of unaccompanied minors in Minnesota are from countries in Central America, including Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador. 

Many children flee Central America’s Northern Triangle, which comprises Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, because of violence or abuse at home and from organized criminal gangs, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. All three countries have also experienced a rise in violence and economic insecurity. 

Some of the minors entered the United States as young children, but are now in their teens, attending school and forming community ties. One of them, a 16-year-old boy from Montevideo, Minnesota, has been in the United States since he was five, and appeared before Sardelli at immigration court.

“There’s no need for interpretation; he speaks English,” the boy’s attorney told the judge. “He’s been here since he was five years old, so it’s his first language, really.”  

Many unaccompanied minors who spend years waiting for their cases to resolve face losing connections they built in their communities and the stability that provides.   

“They’re more on this side than in their own home (country),” Goss said. “Carrying them away from the life that they’ve known as children (in the United States) is a fundamentally unfair situation, especially when there are processes that can protect them.” 

Some children’s cases require additional steps compared to an adult’s deportation case, such as therapy to solicit traumatic experiences that can be used in their request for asylum, said Kim Boche, supervising attorney at the Advocates for Human Rights, a Minneapolis-based nonprofit that mobilizes free immigration help.

One of the last children to appear before Sardelli last week was a toddler-aged boy wearing a maroon and gold University of Minnesota T-shirt. He sat in his father’s lap with his two grown sisters by their side. 

The boy had missed his first court hearing, and Sardelli asked his family to explain why. The boy’s father seemed puzzled, and said he didn’t know why his son was ordered to appear in court that day. 

“He missed court before,” Sardelli said. “The only reason he wasn’t ordered removed is most likely because of his young age.” 

Sardelli asked them if their mailing address was correct. Yes, the boy’s father said. He asked if they had an attorney. No, one sister answered. 

He granted the boy’s family more time to find an attorney, and forwarded the case to the next court hearing. 

“If he missed court a second time, it’s likely he’ll be ordered removed,” Sardelli told them.  

Boche said “numerous” clients have come to her office asking about their deportation cases only to find out a judge had already issued a deportation order against them. In those cases, Boche said, many minors didn’t know they had court hearings because they had moved to a new address. 

By around 3 p.m., Sardelli had forwarded most of the 45 cases he had seen to a future court hearing. About 20 minors did not show up for their hearings that day. The judge noted that several children who missed their hearings had missed multiple hearings in the past. 

Courtney Nussbaumer, a Department of Homeland Security attorney who represented the federal government in the children’s hearings, told the judge that about 20 minors should be ordered for deportation. Nussbaumer did not say in open court how she reached her decision. Sardelli agreed with Nussbaumer, saying that the children she ordered deported had missed multiple hearings in the past. 

Sardelli said he would review all of the cases ordered for deportation “one last time to double-check everything” before he sent out official written notices. Then, he dismissed court for the day. 

Editor’s note: This story originally was published July 29 in the Sahan Journal. It was written by Sahan Journal immigration reporter Katelyn Vue, with contributions from staff data reporter Cynthia Tu.