US Removes Restrictions on Sharing Immigration Status of Sponsors for Unaccompanied Minors

The change was made to comply with federal law, officials said.

Children aged 3 to 9 at the Donna Department of Homeland Security holding facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas, on March 30, 2021. Dario Lopez-Mills/AFP/Getty Images

The U.S. government said on March 25 that it is removing restrictions that prevented authorities from sharing with law enforcement the immigration status of people who sponsored unaccompanied illegal immigrant minors.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, said in a formal notice that it was making the change because the restrictions contravened federal law.

Minors who arrive in the United States without a parent or guardian, or unaccompanied minors, can be sponsored by an adult who meets certain criteria.

A 2024 “foundational rule” promulgated by ORR stated that the agency, while vetting potential sponsors, takes into account their immigration status. But ORR also stated in the rule that it “shall not collect information on immigration status of potential sponsors for law enforcement or immigration enforcement related purposes” and “shall not share any immigration status information relating to potential sponsors with any law enforcement or immigration enforcement related entity at any time.”

That position goes against federal law, ORR said in the update on Monday.

The law, 8 U.S.C. 1373, says, “Notwithstanding any other provision of Federal, State, or local law, a Federal, State, or local government entity or official may not prohibit, or in any way restrict, any government entity or official from sending to, or receiving from, the Immigration and Naturalization Service information regarding the citizenship or immigration status, lawful or unlawful, of any individual.”

ORR said: “The statute unambiguously limits ORR’s authority. Notably, nowhere in the preamble to the Foundational Rule was 8 U.S.C. 1373 even mentioned, even though the information-sharing provision of the Foundational Rule, obviously and directly contravenes that statutory limit. Thus, ORR must update the Foundational Rule ... effective immediately.”

The change means that ORR can share information about the immigration status of potential unaccompanied minor sponsors with law enforcement and immigration enforcement officials.

Ira Mehlman, media director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR), welcomed the development but also pointed to how many unaccompanied minors in recent years were released to criminals or forced into indentured servitude.

“In addition to revising existing rules, FAIR believes that Congress must reform [Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act] and the Flores Settlement to stop the illegal migration and exploitation of minors,” Mehlman told The Epoch Times in an email, referring to a settlement that set rules around the caring for and release of unaccompanied minors.

Several groups that have been critical of the Trump administration’s actions on immigration, including the American Immigration Council, did not respond to requests for comment on the rule change.