Brookings Institution researchers estimate over 100,000 children were separated from parents during the Trump administration’s interior enforcement push, a figure more than double the Department of Homeland Security’s public count. The study points to a hidden scale of family disruption.

The analysis draws on Census and ICE arrest data, concluding that roughly 145,000 of the separated children are U.S. citizens. Methodology assumes random detention, but accounts for under‑reporting when officials fail to ask about children.

These separations ripple through communities and markets. Legal aid groups report that few children end up in foster care; most rely on friends or relatives, straining local services and increasing demand for childcare, education, and health support. The findings suggest that the federal policy may have triggered a surge in indirect public costs.

In light of these revelations, policymakers face pressure to tighten data collection and to address the socioeconomic burden on families that has already stretched community resources.