A federal judge has temporarily blocked a Trump administration initiative that would have allowed immigrant children to be transferred to adult detention centers upon turning 18.
U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras in Washington, D.C., issued a temporary restraining order on Saturday directing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to stop placing unaccompanied minors into adult detention once they reach legal adulthood. Contreras ruled the policy violated a 2021 court order requiring the government to release immigrant youths to “the least restrictive setting available,” such as relatives or foster homes, unless they pose a danger or flight risk.
The injunction halted transfers that advocates said were scheduled to begin this weekend. The decision comes amid broader legal clashes over Trump’s hardline immigration policies, including reports that the administration plans to offer minors $2,500 “resettlement stipends” to self-deport.
Immigrant advocates called the halted policy coercive and dangerous. “This policy pressures children to abandon their legal claims and return to a life of fear and danger without ever receiving a fair hearing,” said Murad Awawdeh, president of the New York Immigration Coalition.
Attorneys have also accused ICE of reviving family separation tactics to pressure immigrants into leaving the U.S., while detaining growing numbers of immigrants with no criminal records.
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