DHS visits nonprofits aiding unaccompanied migrant children in D.C. area

What happens when immigration enforcement walks into organizations that help unaccompanied children find lawyers? That question hung over Washington, D.C.-area nonprofits after Homeland Security Investigations agents visited their offices on Thursday, June 12, 2026, with representatives of two groups saying the agents did not present a warrant or subpoena and were denied entry.

The organizations involved included Kids in Need of Defense, the Amica Center for Immigrant Rights and Ayuda, all of which provide legal services to unaccompanied immigrant children. The groups said they did not know why the visits were made, and they said officials with the U.S. Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General were with the DHS agents. For advocates who work with children navigating immigration court, the distinction between routine oversight and a pressure tactic matters immediately: access to counsel can shape whether a child understands the case, appears for hearings and reunites safely with family or sponsors.

The Amica Center said the visits were an attempt to intimidate child advocates, and argued that the organizations receive funding through a congressionally created and appropriated program that has had bipartisan support for more than 15 years. That claim goes to the heart of the legal-services network built around the federal Unaccompanied Children program, which the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services says serves children who have no parent or legal guardian in the United States available to care for them. HHS says the Office of Refugee Resettlement provides funding and oversight for state-licensed shelters that house those children after they are referred by DHS.

The timing sharpened the stakes. The Flores settlement has set basic standards of care for unaccompanied children since 1997, and the National Immigrant Justice Center said in March 2025 that the Trump administration ended federal legal services programs for unaccompanied youth, affecting about 26,000 children nationwide. Then, on June 5, 2026, HHS’s inspector general issued a report later posted on June 10 saying ORR needs to improve monitoring of unlicensed care providers’ compliance with background-check requirements. Together, the enforcement visits and the oversight report signal a child-welfare system under intensifying federal scrutiny, with legal access for minors now caught in the middle.