Nine children passed through Sacramento’s ICE holding operation in records from 2026, and eight were deported while one was released after being transferred to Texas. The youngest was 3 years old, and the records show how a short stop in Sacramento could lead either to rapid removal or weeks of detention far from California.
The Sacramento Bee reviewed a database published by EdSource that tracks minors detained by immigration authorities. The eight deported children were born in Mexico and ranged from ages 3 to 15, while the released child was a 3-year-old born in Nicaragua.
Most Sacramento Detainees Were Deported Within Two Days
Seven of the nine minors were held at the Sacramento facility for less than 24 hours before being deported, according to the database. Another child was detained for two days before removal. The released 3-year-old spent less than 10 hours in Sacramento, then was transferred to a Texas facility and remained in custody for nearly 63 days.
That split underscores how the Sacramento stop was often only the first leg of the process. For some children, the records show a quick trip from local detention to deportation; for another, a transfer thousands of miles away preceded a much longer stay.
California’s Child Detention Numbers Have Risen Sharply
EdSource’s broader analysis found that ICE detained 666 children in California during the Trump administration’s second term, with 408 — or 61% — ultimately deported. More than 100 of those children were age 5 or younger, and none had felony convictions or previous convictions listed in the data, though 12 had pending criminal charges.
Nationally, the increase has been even more dramatic. The Marshall Project reported that ICE detained more than 6,200 children during the first 14 months of President Donald Trump’s second term, while the average daily number in custody rose from about 24 during the final year of the Biden administration to 226. More than 1,600 children were held longer than 20 days.
The Flores Settlement Is At The Center Of The Legal Fight
The 1997 Flores settlement agreement established nationwide standards for the detention, release and treatment of minors in immigration custody. Court interpretations have generally limited detention of children to about 20 days, although the legal details can depend on a child’s circumstances and immigration case.
Immigration law professor Kevin Johnson told The Sacramento Bee that detainees are supposed to receive a list of attorneys or legal organizations, but representation is not guaranteed. He also said he would not be surprised if the administration were violating Flores, given its broader conflicts with court orders.
The Sacramento records do not, by themselves, establish whether any individual case violated the settlement. They do show that local detention can quickly become part of a much larger system — one that sends children out of state, separates them from familiar surroundings and, in eight cases documented here, ends with deportation.
