WASHINGTON — An agency created to protect unaccompanied migrant children is instead being used to facilitate immigration enforcement, according to Arsenal PAC, which alleges the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) has provided more than 460,000 leads to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement since 2025, contributing to more than 12,000 arrests and leaving many families too fearful to reunite with their children.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, a federally funded agency, is responsible for housing unaccompanied migrant children. Under a 2008 federal law, those children are to be placed in the least restrictive setting possible. However, Arsenal PAC points to recent Reuters reporting indicating the agency has been providing ICE with information about undocumented parents seeking to reunite with their children.
“This is a grotesque perversion of everything ORR was created to do,” said Arsenal PAC Executive Director David Dodds. “An agency built to shelter children has been weaponized into bait. The federal government is dangling kids in front of their own mothers and fathers, demanding fingerprints, DNA tests and tax records — and then handing every scrap of that information to ICE so agents can arrest the family at the reunion.”
According to Arsenal PAC, ORR has provided more than 460,000 referrals to ICE, which the organization says have contributed to more than 12,000 arrests.
Reuters reported that the policy shift has had significant consequences for children in ORR custody. According to the report, children now remain in ORR care for an average of 194 days — roughly six months — as many parents fear they could be arrested or deported if they attempt to claim custody.
“Every parent now faces an unconscionable choice — leave your child locked in a federal facility, or hand the government a roadmap to your own arrest,” Dodds said.
Reuters documented the case of a 6-year-old girl who spent six months in ORR custody before being deported shortly after reuniting with her family. According to the report, “The child now wakes up crying at night, thinking she is still detained.” Reuters also described a case in which a mother was arrested at gunpoint two months after sponsoring her son, leaving her teenage child to care for a 6-year-old sibling.
Although ORR has stated that it “plays no role in the apprehension of children,” Reuters reported that a 2025 policy shift directed ICE agents to target unaccompanied migrant children and their sponsors. The news organization reported that ICE relied on approximately 460,000 leads provided by ORR to assist in detaining more than 12,000 individuals.
Arsenal PAC argues the volume of referrals undermines the agency’s public assurances, stating, “460,000 leads do not share themselves.”
“[ORR] are weaponizing a child welfare program for the purposes of more deportations,” former ORR Deputy Director Jen Smyers told Reuters.
“ORR’s leadership can hide behind DHS press statements all they want — the internal data tells the truth,” Dodds said. “Arsenal PAC calls for an immediate end to ORR’s data-sharing with ICE, congressional hearings into this betrayal of the 2008 law’s clear intent and accountability for every official who signed off on turning shelters for children into surveillance operations against their families.”
The report comes as immigration enforcement practices continue to face heightened public and legal scrutiny nationwide.
Arsenal PAC is calling for an immediate halt to ORR’s information-sharing with ICE, congressional hearings into the agency’s policies and a review of whether current practices are consistent with the intent of the 2008 law governing the care and placement of unaccompanied migrant children. The organization said it will continue advocating for legislative oversight and policy changes regarding ORR’s role in immigration enforcement.
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