OPINION: No child should bear the burden of immigration enforcement

Imagine being a child answering a knock at the door, only to find armed federal agents asking about the immigration status of you and your parents or guardians, where you attend school, your grade level and teacher’s name. For too many immigrant children in New Mexico this is now a harsh reality.

Since April 2025, agents from Homeland Security Investigations have been conducting unannounced “wellness checks” on unaccompanied minor children in New Mexico. These visits were supposedly meant to ensure that unaccompanied children are safe and enrolled in school, but it’s not social workers or someone with the Children, Youth and Families Department at the door; these are federal criminal investigators whose job is law enforcement, not child welfare.

To be clear: These children have legal status as unaccompanied minors, are represented by immigration attorneys and reside with family members or guardians. But according to a recent memo, it appears the Department of Homeland Security is targeting these families and laying the groundwork for future detention and deportation operations here in New Mexico.

Our clients reported that agents conducted unannounced visits to their homes asking specific questions, including where the child attended school, and what grade the child was in. However, their questions and approach were inconsistent with someone conducting a true welfare check. Rather, they seemed to be trying to find out the legal status of the children’s guardians.

These so-called wellness checks force children and families into an impossible situation: They must cooperate with agents — sometimes answering complex legal questions alone — or risk the arrest of their parents or caregivers. But, because the officers frame the visit as a wellness check, many families comply and answer their questions. Now HSI has very detailed information about where the children live and go to school, and we aren’t sure how this information will be used.

To date, more than 30 of our clients, ranging in age from 5 to 18 and from across the state, have reported receiving a visit or a phone call from HSI, but that number is likely much higher. These visits have terrified families. Children have seen agents photograph their homes or escort their sponsors away in handcuffs, leaving them alone. Some children are afraid of returning to school or leaving their homes for fear of being picked up by ICE. One family has decided not to leave their home together at one time for fear of detainment.

Another potential concern is that HSI will detain guardians and then go to the child’s school to conduct a “wellness check” due to the guardian’s detention. While many schools are prepared to deny entry to ICE without a judicial warrant, we do not believe that schools in any district are well prepared to deny entry to HSI agents conducting a wellness check.

The state can protect these children and their families. Schools can deny access to agents requesting to do “wellness checks” on kids, and families can invoke their constitutional right to not answer questions. We must do everything we can as a community to protect our children in their homes, schools, childcare centers, hospitals and other public facilities with constitutionally protected private meeting spaces.

Family separation looks like it’s here again. We have an opportunity to see through this Trojan horse and protect our communities in case HSI uses the information they collect to detain or separate families, especially if family detention centers become an option due to the unprecedented increase in ICE’s budget. Children are not responsible for the legal status of their families, and they should not be pawns in a broader enforcement strategy.