Every one of these children has already been through a state court. A judge ruled that each of them has suffered serious abuse, neglect or abandonment and needs the state's care. Some were trafficked for labor or sex. Many crossed the border alone.

For decades, the U.S. treated children like these as children first. Now the Trump administration has put at least two dozen of them in the Kansas City area into active deportation proceedings, and some could soon be ordered out of the country, The Beacon reported on November 11 in a story the Missouri Independent republished.

Nationwide, the changes affect up to 150,000 children.

The promise the government broke

These children have, or have applied for, a status called special immigrant juvenile status. It's a humanitarian protection for abused or neglected kids, and it can lead to a green card.

There's usually a long wait for that green card. So the government used to give these children "deferred action," a promise not to pursue their deportation while their cases moved forward. Since 2022 they could also work legally, which gave them a government ID while they waited.

The Trump administration canceled those protections for new grants and renewals, effective May 10, 2026.

"It's nonsensical and it's cruel because these children had already been told by the government that they wouldn't be pursued for deportation," said Aly Englander, a senior staff attorney at the Asylum Clinic Kansas City.

Then it sped up their cases and cut their lawyers

It didn't stop at taking away the protection:

• Hearings pulled forward by months. Hearings that had been set for 2027 were pulled off the calendar. Some were rescheduled for mid-November, leaving lawyers trying to do six months or more of legal work in a few weeks.
• Cases moved to another city. Some of the children's cases were abruptly moved from Kansas City's immigration court to a judge in Chicago.
• Lawyers' funding canceled. The Asylum Clinic is part of a national network of groups that got federal grants to represent abused and neglected children in immigration court. The administration canceled those grants. It has also cut some federal help for the children's medical care, trauma therapy, food and housing. We wrote earlier about how the administration has tried to make kids face deportation court alone.
• ICE at the door. "They've started sending ICE to the houses of sponsors," Englander said, meaning the families taking care of the children.
• Cash to leave. In October, the government started offering unaccompanied children $3,000 to deport themselves, up from $2,500.

Who these children are

The youngest is 6. The oldest is 18. Lawyers say at least five have been sexually exploited. Some worked long hours in construction, roofing and restaurants while an adult took their wages. Several are disabled. Some have no parent or close relative in the country and are in foster care.

One teenage girl escaped what her lawyer called "intense labor trafficking" and now lives in a Kansas City homeless shelter. She doesn't have steady access to food, because the Trump administration cut SNAP for many immigrants. Advocates bring her gift cards every two weeks so she can buy meals at Walmart.

One boy was homeless in Honduras from age 6 to 10, and made his way to the U.S. border with a group of other homeless kids. He's 11 now, living with a relative and doing well in middle school.

"Using children as pawns"

Mary Giovagnoli, who served as the ombudsperson for unaccompanied children at the Department of Health and Human Services until Trump removed her last year, says the government is pushing these children out "so fast" that nobody is making sure it's safe to send them back. That, she said, runs up against a 2008 anti-trafficking law that set standards to keep trafficking victims from being persecuted or trafficked again after they're returned home.

She accuses the administration of "using children as pawns in its mass deportation agenda."

The administration says it is fixing fraud from the Biden years. Its immigration court office said "there is nothing novel" about trying to resolve cases quickly. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the Biden administration had left children "exposed to fraud, exploitation, and abuse."

State judges have already found that these children were abused, neglected or abandoned. It fits a pattern: the Trump administration is deporting immigrant kids at triple the rate, most of whom had no criminal record in this country.

The bottom line

The Trump administration canceled the protection that kept abused, neglected and trafficked immigrant children from being deported while they waited for green cards, a change affecting up to 150,000 children. It cut funding for their lawyers and pulled their hearings forward by months. At least two dozen of those children in the Kansas City area, ages 6 to 18, are now in active deportation proceedings.

Source

• Dozens of immigrant children in KC face fast-tracked deportation after losing protections — Mary Sanchez, The Beacon, republished by the Missouri Independent, November 11, 2026