American Oversight Sues Trump Administration for Records on So-Called “Welfare Checks” Targeting Immigrant Children
Records we’re seeking could reveal if the effort is a ruse to facilitate the deportation of vulnerable children and families.
Wednesday, American Oversight filed suit against the Trump administration after multiple federal agencies failed to produce records about a controversial initiative directing federal law enforcement officers to conduct so-called “welfare checks” on unaccompanied immigrant children — an initiative that has raised serious concerns about whether these visits are being used to identify and deport vulnerable children and their families.
The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, seeks records from the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF), Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). We are investigating whether these welfare checks are being used as a pretext to identify and target children and their sponsors for deportation.
“For many of these children, placement with a sponsor — usually a parent or close relative — is meant to provide stability after an already traumatic journey. Instead, families who stepped forward to care for them are now left wondering whether a so-called ‘welfare check’ could subject them to detention, separation, or even deportation,” said Chioma Chukwu, Executive Director of American Oversight. “The public has a right to know whether these encounters are truly about protecting children or are being used to advance the Trump administration’s inhumane immigration enforcement agenda. No family should have to fear that opening their door could result in losing a loved one or being thrust back into government custody.”
While the Office of Refugee Resettlement, a component of HHS, has the primary mandate to care for unaccompanied minors’ well-being, including after they have been placed with a sponsor, law enforcement officials tasked with these welfare checks — including from agencies like FBI and ATF — were instructed to contact ICE if they encountered children deemed to be “in danger.”
In June 2025, we submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to the agencies seeking communications among senior officials, policy directives, training materials, and data on how many welfare checks have been conducted and how many cases have been referred to ICE. The agencies failed to provide responsive records or issue final determinations within the time required by law, prompting today’s lawsuit, which asks the court to order the agencies to conduct adequate searches for records and to produce all materials so the public can understand how this program is being conducted.