Congress Faces Crucial Choice: Cut Kids’ Funding or Protect Them from ICE Detention

Congress is barreling toward critical budget decisions that will leave a lasting mark on millions of American children. Two parallel processes are unfolding: the annual FY 2027 appropriations and a fast-track reconciliation bill aimed at funding the Department of Homeland Security’s immigration enforcement agencies, ICE and CBP.

Despite children making up nearly a quarter of the U.S. population, federal spending on them has steadily declined, now just 8.57% of the total budget — a figure that has dropped four years in a row. Infants and toddlers fare even worse, receiving a paltry 1.59% of federal funds. Yet the President’s FY 2027 budget proposal doubles down on cuts, slashing investments in vital programs like preschool development grants, emergency medical services for children, and child care for low-income parents pursuing education.

Congress holds the purse strings and the power to reverse this damaging trend. The Children’s Budget Coalition, led by First Focus on Children, is urging lawmakers to reject the President’s budget and instead prioritize bold, bipartisan investments in children’s health, education, and well-being.

Meanwhile, Republican leaders are rushing to pass a reconciliation bill by June 1 that would pump up funding for ICE and CBP by up to $140 billion, sustaining these agencies’ immigration enforcement and detention operations through the end of President Trump’s term. This “Reconciliation 2.0” move is a direct response to last year’s H.R. 1 bill and risks further entrenching the trauma inflicted on children caught in the immigration system.

The human cost is clear and devastating. Over 6,000 children, including infants, have been detained in immigration facilities during Trump’s second term. The Flores Settlement Agreement, a 1997 court settlement designed to protect children from prolonged detention, is under attack by the administration itself, which seeks to terminate it rather than comply. Reports reveal children held for over 20 days, sometimes exceeding 100 days, in blatant violation of the agreement.

Children like 5-year-old Liam Ramos, taken from his family and transported over 1,000 miles to a detention center, highlight the cruelty of these policies. Pediatricians and advocates alike warn that detention and deportation cause severe harm to children’s mental and physical health.

Congress must act now to enshrine the Flores protections into law and end child detention once and for all. No additional funding should flow to ICE or CBP without ironclad, enforceable safeguards to protect children from further trauma.

We stand with over 100 organizations calling on Congress to reject any immigration funding package that fails to prioritize children’s rights and well-being. This budget showdown is about more than numbers — it is a test of our nation’s humanity and commitment to its most vulnerable.

Congress has the power to choose: deepen disinvestment and expand detention, or invest in children’s futures and end the cycle of harm. We will be watching — and holding them accountable.