Planning for Detention: How 2 States Help Immigrant Children Stay Out of Foster Care

The parents of at least a quarter of a million kids are at risk of deportation. In case that happens, lawmakers are adding protections -- with bipartisan support -- for the children left behind.

A child from Honduras being brought to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Grand Rapids, Mich.

SPEED READ:

• The Trump administration has detained record numbers of immigrants, including children who are separated from their parents.
• The parents of roughly 273,000 children who are U.S. citizens face deportation due to the impending loss of their Temporary Protected Status.
• Maryland and New York passed bills to expand emergency guardianship laws, allowing immigrants to keep their kids out of federal custody or foster care in the event that they are detained or deported.

Since Donald Trump became president, immigration arrests have quadrupled, placing hundreds of thousands of immigrants at risk of deportation and separating tens of thousands of children from their parents. On an average day, there are 44,000 immigrants being held in federal custody, which Vox reports is an all-time high up from the pre-Trump record of 34,000.

As of November, 14,000 immigrant kids were in government custody without their parents -- another record high. To keep more of these kids from falling into federal care or foster care, lawmakers in two states have expanded emergency guardianship laws. And despite the divisive nature of immigration policy, the legislation has attracted bipartisan support.

"Right now, there are so many unknowns for Dreamers, DACA recipients, people with TPS," says Carlo Sanchez, a son of El Salvadoran immigrants who co-sponsored the bill in Maryland. "We have a responsibility to talk about what happens when those people go away."