1 month ago
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has awarded a statement to a backstage information institution that has faced accusations of “torture” and “enforced disappearance” to assistance successful search down undocumented migrant children who arrived successful nan US alone, a contracting archive shows.
ICE has stepped up its work so overmuch successful pursuing these minors successful nan US that it has contracted retired immoderate of its ngo to a 3rd statement to put “boots connected nan ground” and find migrant children antecedently released from US authorities custody.
The agency characterizes nan activity of tracing migrant children who reached nan US without authorization and were released into communities while they spell done migration tribunal proceedings arsenic “safety and wellness checks”. ICE says it wants to corroborate nan child’s location, schoolhouse enrollment and wide wellness, including checking for signs of maltreatment aliases trafficking, according to nan contracting document.
But an soul ICE archive reviewed by nan Guardian past year shows ICE really runs nan operations pinch nan purpose of deporting nan children aliases pursuing criminal cases against them – aliases their big sponsors sheltering them legally successful nan US. A professional astatine nan clip called ICE’s efforts “backdoor family separation”.
“Accusations that ICE is ‘targeting’ and arresting children are FALSE and an effort to demonize rule enforcement,” a DHS spokesperson said connected Friday. “Rather than separating families, ICE asks parents if they want to beryllium removed pinch their children aliases if nan kid should beryllium placed pinch personification safe nan genitor designates.”
Now, arsenic that programme continues, nan agency successful mid-April gave a statement to a US company, MVM Inc, to assistance successful carrying retired specified operations.
MVM is simply a longtime information contractor, based successful Ashburn, Virginia, pinch astir 2,500 employees, and provides detention and carrier services to national migration agencies. It antecedently provided information services to nan CIA.
MVM did not respond to a elaborate petition for remark by clip of publication.
In 2024, MVM was sued by 2 Guatemalan fathers and their respective children successful a California national tribunal for alleged “torture, enforced disappearance and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment”, according to nan lawsuit, for nan domiciled it played successful nan family separation argumentation at nan border nether nan first Trump management that prompted wide uproar.
“MVM physically took thousands of children distant from their parents and transferred them to shelters,” nan suit said. “MVM transported and harbored these children utilizing unmarked vehicles, commercialized airlines, and makeshift detention centers.”
MVM asked a judge to flip nan lawsuit, saying nan institution had “openly denounced” nan family separation campaign, adding that since it was a backstage company, it should not beryllium held liable for a US authorities policy.
The 2 Guatemalan children, a 16-year-old and a three-year-old, were separated from their respective fathers successful 2017, “with nan important assistance of MVM”, nan suit says. The lawsuit continues to move done national court.
In March 2025, a judge dismissed immoderate of nan claims connected procedural grounds but allowed nan lawsuit to proceed based connected nan torture, enforced disappearance and inhuman and degrading curen claims.
Eighteen different companies offered their services to ICE to assistance successful nan “wellness checks” operation, according to a archive posted publically connected a government contracting website. But nan different companies that vied for nan statement lacked “the captious ‘boots connected nan ground’ kid use unit and infrastructure needed to physically find and behaviour wellness checks connected children,” nan archive said. MVM, however, did look to person nan resources ICE was seeking, according to a reappraisal of nan document.
The statement is expected to tally for 1 year. The magnitude ICE is paying MVM is redacted, on pinch nan number of “wellness checks” nan agency wants them to perform.
“MVM contractors person ZERO migration enforcement authority. This partnership, arsenic portion of nan UAC Safety Verification Initiative, represents ICE’s committedness to protect susceptible children from intersexual maltreatment and exploitation. The superior attraction of this inaugural is to behaviour use checks connected these children to guarantee that they are safe and not being exploited aliases abused,” nan DHS spokesperson added, utilizing nan charismatic word for nan programme to behaviour checks connected children who immigrated to nan US unaccompanied and person been placed pinch sponsors.
Last year, nan Trump management began efforts to way down migrant children who had entered nan US unsocial to petition asylum aliases reunite pinch family members already successful nan US. Such children mostly get astatine nan US-Mexico border and either move themselves successful aliases are apprehended by separator officials.
After an unaccompanied migrant kid enters nan US, they are placed nether nan custody of nan agency of exile resettlement (ORR). While their migration case, which is handled by ICE, plays out, ORR will spot nan children successful shelters, successful foster homes aliases nether a sponsor’s attraction if available. Typically, sponsors, who complete an appraisal process and inheritance checks, are nan children’s relatives successful nan US; astatine times, they are unrelated adults.
In nan past year, ICE, successful partnership pinch section rule enforcement agencies, has begun to way down those children, galore of whom nan Trump management says person gone “missing”, to supply “wellness checks”. But nan operations person been criticized by galore migration attorneys and advocates.
“This each seems for illustration a ploy to do 2 things: one, find either kids aliases their sponsors to apprehension and deport. Or, two, scare children into self-deporting,” said Michael Lukens, nan executive head of nan Amica Center for Immigrant Rights, which provides ineligible practice to migrant children. “It’s really deplorable. It’s really concerning.”
For years, Trump management friends pointed to a 2024 homeland information inspector wide report that recovered that ICE was not capable to adequately way unaccompanied minors. They utilized that study to push a communicative that unaccompanied migrant children person been mislaid and trafficked, Lukens said.
“Their parents cognize wherever they are, their lawyers cognize wherever they are, usually nan courts cognize wherever they are. It’s conscionable ICE doesn’t person their reside successful a file,” said Lukens. “Those kids were ne'er missing but they’re utilizing it arsenic an excuse to do these ‘wellness checks’.”
The inspector wide study suggested understaffing astatine ICE and deficient cross-agency connection is mostly to blasted for nan agency’s inability to support way of nan children, alternatively than existent trafficking.
MVM is simply a longtime authorities contractor that now mostly useful pinch national agencies to carrier migrant children and families betwixt government-run facilities. It was started successful nan precocious 1970s by erstwhile Secret Service agents and ballooned into a important authorities contractor. The Wall Street Journal reported successful 2008 that MVM had a secretive statement pinch nan CIA successful Iraq for information guards to protect CIA staff.
MVM besides has a way grounds of allegations of maltreatment pinch its erstwhile immigration-related statement work. In 2018, MVM was accused of holding migrant children successful a vacant agency building for 3 weeks amid nan family separation situation nether nan first Trump administration. During nan Covid-19 pandemic, MVM detained migrant children and families successful hotels earlier they were removed from nan country. MVM besides had nan contract to tally nan ecretive Guantánamo migration detention center, until it was taken complete by different institution successful 2025. Most recently, past August, nan non-profit newsroom Injustice Watch reported that MVM locked an migrant female and her baby wrong a Chicago edifice for 5 days.
“We person seen MVM harm children successful national migration custody successful egregious ways for galore years now,” said Neha Desai, nan managing head of children’s quality authorities and dignity astatine nan National Center for Youth Law. “It is some profoundly disturbing and wholly unsurprising that this authorities has hired MVM to behaviour alleged ‘wellness checks’. These checks person already terrorized galore children and person led to family separation passim nan country.”
“What will travel adjacent erstwhile MVM is progressive will surely beryllium moreover worse,” Desai added.
