As part of our efforts to amplify the AILA Law Journal, Lisa Jacobs, Jessica Heldman, and Sarah Diaz put into context their article about the use of juvenile records in immigration proceedings and how using those records in the same manner as adult records is unjust and causes irreparable harm to children.

Immigration law in the United States has a striking blind spot: it fails to recognize that children are different from adults. This impacts a large number of migrant children and young adults who came to the United States as children. For example, previously unpublished data reveals that – in 2025 alone – the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency has placed more than 600 children in immigration detention facilities, exceeding the total of the previous four years combined. Reporting indicates that a majority of these children were taken into ICE custody as they showed up for immigration hearings or appointments, or because adults they were with had been arrested. These children and young people will all now face the cruelty of an adult-centric immigration system, further weaponized by Trump Administration policies. These “adultified” immigration processes are not designed for children and youth, and the proceedings are particularly dangerous for children who have come into conflict with the law.