Detained Minor-Days in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Facilities, 2022-2026: National Surveillance of Child Detention Exposure.

Abstract

Detention of immigrant children is a public-health and health-equity concern, yet national surveillance of cumulative child exposure in U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody is limited. I quantified facility-day exposure among detainees classified by ICE as under age 18. I conducted a descriptive facility-day surveillance study using ICE detention-facility daily population records from October 1, 2022 through March 10, 2026. The primary outcome was detained minor-days, defined as the daily count of detainees classified by ICE as under age 18, summed across facilities and time. Rates used total detainee-days as the denominator. Analyses examined trends, facility concentration, and the contribution of the South Texas Family Residential Center (STFRC). The dataset included 888,699 facility-day records from 696 facilities. Overall, 115,314 detained minor-days were recorded. Annual detained minor-days increased from 8,669 in 2024 to 70,420 in 2025 and 23,992 during partial 2026. Rates rose from 0.61 per 1,000 detainee-days in 2024 to 3.37 in 2025 and 4.90 in early 2026. STFRC accounted for 83,994 detained minor-days (72.8% of the national total), and seven facilities accounted for 90.8% of all detained minor-days. Detained minor-days increased sharply in ICE records during 2025-2026 and were highly concentrated within a small number of facilities, highlighting the need for surveillance, oversight, and child-health protections across family and non-family detention settings.