Hundreds of children seeking asylum in the United States are being detained for weeks or even months, far exceeding the 20-day limit set by a decades-old federal agreement, according to court-appointed monitors and legal advocates.
Aleksei, a Russian asylum seeker, watched anxiously as the 20-day threshold passed at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in South Texas. Alongside his wife, Anastasia, and their 5-year-old twins, he witnessed the toll prolonged detention took on their children’s emotional and physical well-being. “After three weeks, we began to feel the pressure building,” Aleksei said.
Federal law, established under the 1997 Flores Settlement Agreement, limits the detention of minors to the time necessary to arrange their release or deportation—generally no longer than 20 days. Yet since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, immigration officials have regularly held children beyond that limit. As of January 2026, over 900 minors had been detained past the 20-day mark, with roughly 270 confined for more than twice that period.
Lawyers representing families at Dilley say prolonged detention is being used as a deterrent, pressuring parents to abandon asylum claims. Many children experience regression, including bedwetting, thumb-sucking, frequent night terrors, and withdrawal, they report.
Vilma Bautista Torres, who fled Honduras with her severely autistic 9-year-old son Kenek, described spending over 80 days in detention without access to therapy or education. “He would tell me, ‘Let’s go to my house,’” she said. “As a mother, it made me feel terrible.” Kenek struggled to comprehend his surroundings and experienced repeated episodes of self-harm and panic.
Child psychiatrist Dr. Gilbert Kliman, an autism specialist, warns that such prolonged confinement can cause irreparable harm, especially for children with developmental disabilities. “I could hardly think of a worse way to treat an autistic boy,” he said.
Other families have endured even longer periods. Habiba Soliman, 18, and her four younger siblings—including twin 5-year-olds—have been detained for over nine months while fighting to return to their home in Colorado rather than being deported to Egypt. “This place broke something in us,” Soliman said, describing the psychological toll of detention.
The Trump administration has simultaneously sought to overturn the Flores Settlement, claiming it encourages families to bring children to the U.S. for faster release. Courts have largely rejected these challenges, but discrepancies in detention practices persist. Some families are released within days, while others remain confined for months without clear justification.
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and CoreCivic, which manages Dilley under a federal contract, defend the facility’s conditions, citing food, medical care, and accommodations as adequate. DHS also criticized the Flores Agreement as “a tool of the left” and denied allegations of inadequate care.
Immigration lawyers argue that many detained families pose no safety risk and should not be held at all. Sergio Perez, executive director of the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law, said, “Where is the threat that a 5-year-old or a 13-year-old presents? There is none.”
After months in detention, some families secure release through legal advocacy. Bautista Torres and Kenek were granted parole and returned to Louisiana, but she worries about the lasting impact of the experience. “It’s lost time that we cannot recover,” she said.
As prolonged detention continues, advocates warn of a growing humanitarian and psychological crisis for children at U.S. immigration facilities, highlighting a legal system struggling to balance enforcement with the welfare of vulnerable minors.
