FOIA Request: Access to Reproductive Health Services for Unaccompanied Children in the Custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement

WASHINGTON — The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request today seeking information regarding the Trump administration’s treatment of pregnant unaccompanied minors in federal immigration custody. The FOIA seeks transparency from the Trump administration, which has reportedly been sending pregnant minors to government-funded shelters in states with abortion bans despite federal policy that requires the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) to prioritize placement of pregnant youth in states without abortion bans. Furthermore, the Trump administration has announced that it will propose changing a regulation regarding abortion access for unaccompanied immigrant minors. Current regulations and policy require ORR to ensure access to all pregnancy related care, including abortion. In its 2017 class action lawsuit Garza v. Hargan, the ACLU successfully sued the first Trump administration on behalf of a then 17-year-old Central American immigrant, Jane Doe, who had been prevented from accessing abortion care. Jane bravely fought not only for her own reproductive freedom, but that of hundreds of other young people subjected to this dangerous policy. Today’s ORR regulation, issued in 2022, is built upon the ACLU’s 2020 settlement in the case. In the years since Garza was settled, the ACLU and NCYL have continued to seek transparency from federal officials, including since President Trump began his second term. “Unaccompanied immigrant youth must be able to access the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion,” said Brigitte Amiri, deputy director of the Reproductive Freedom Project at the ACLU. “The ACLU represented a class of minors in a lawsuit after they were denied abortion access in the first Trump administration. We saw first-hand the importance of the ability of young people to make decisions about their pregnancies, and what it meant for their lives and futures. Our lawsuit led to the current policy, which protects access to crucial reproductive health care for these marginalized young people. Any attempts to restrict abortion access for youth in immigration shelters will be devastating. If any youth in ORR custody is denied access to reproductive health care, they should contact us at 212-549-2633.” Unaccompanied immigrant minors come to the United States without their parents, often fleeing violence or abuse in their home country. They usually have family in the United States who they are seeking to be reunited with. But until then, they are placed in shelters overseen by ORR. Some young people first learn that they are pregnant when they receive an initial medical exam at the shelter. Given the high rates of sexual assault on the journey to the U.S., some of these young people are pregnant as a result of violence. “ORR is responsible for a population of inherently vulnerable minors – minors that the agency has been making more vulnerable by keeping them unnecessarily separated from their families for longer and longer periods of time,” said Mishan Wroe, directing attorney at the National Center for Youth Law. “Given the prolonged detention youth are experiencing, it is more critical than ever that ORR maintain its legal obligations to ensure they have access to reproductive health care while detained.” Current ORR regulations require that pregnant unaccompanied minors be provided with information about and access to reproductive health care, including pregnancy care and abortion. ORR must also prioritize placing minors in shelters where abortion is legal because any pregnant minor could experience miscarriage or complications that require life- or health-saving abortion care. If a minor is in a shelter in a state with an abortion ban and she requests an abortion, ORR must transfer her to state where abortion is legal. But earlier this year, the Trump administration announced that it would cave to the demands of its anti-abortion allies and change this policy. Although the text of the proposed regulation is not yet available, immigration and reproductive rights advocates are concerned that the Trump administration will either try to impose a de facto or outright ban on abortion, similar to what the Trump administration imposed in its first term, and which the ACLU struck down. The FOIA request seeks all records and correspondence from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its associated agencies, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and ORR, from January 2025 to the present regarding the administration’s treatment of unaccompanied pregnant minors, including any policies, procedures, and guidelines followed. The FOIA also requests any records regarding unaccompanied minors who seek information about or access to reproductive health care, including abortion and pregnancy care.

The ACLU has taken the Trump administration to court over its new policy of preventing young immigrant women from having abortions they want. The ACLU represents a 17-year-old woman who came to the United States without her parents and who is currently residing in a government-funded shelter in Texas. The Trump administration will not allow her to leave the shelter in order to get an abortion.