Mobile Pathways, an immigrant legal-aid group, counted nearly 200,000 children ordered removed between January 2025 and September 2026 in Justice Department immigration-court data. A removal order is not a deportation. The count includes orders issued when a child missed a court date, and orders that can still be appealed. The group says the true number is probably higher. Its count covers only kids who came to immigration court, alone or with family. The government has not confirmed the number.
-
The pace roughly doubled inside the group's own data — 7,366 child removal orders in January 2025, rising past 16,000 a month by this summer, per Mobile Pathways.
-
HHS, DHS and DOJ are central to the effort; State and Defense play subsidiary roles.
-
DOJ houses the immigration courts; DHS houses ICE and USCIS.