Children crying themselves to sleep is often a daily occurrence at temporary shelters for unaccompanied migrant children. So says Ibrahim, an unaccompanied migrant from West Africa who spent six months in a temporary shelter.
"It’s a normal thing to see someone crying," said Ibrahim, who asked that KPBS not use his full name for safety reasons. "Every day it’s like someone just can’t take it anymore."
Ibrahim fled his home because of violence. He is pursuing an asylum claim in the U.S.
Unaccompanied migrant children who enter the country illegally are placed in congregate living facilities overseen by the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR).
These are meant to be temporary stays — just long enough for the federal government to connect each child with a relative, sponsor, or foster home to ensure they have a stable long-term housing situation.
But to kids like Ibrahim, that temporary stay is anything but.
"I had two or three roommates who came in when I was there," he said. "They all left, and I was still there. It was very difficult for me."
A pattern emerged after a few months. Children with the longest stays tended to be from African and Middle Eastern countries.
And this wasn’t just anecdotal observations from one facility — lawyers at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center have been tracking this for years. Their data shows a discriminatory trend.
"We started to see that the needs of children from non-Spanish speaking countries were not being met to the same extent," said Marion Donovan-Kaloust, director of legal services for Immigrant Defenders. "And that’s obviously concerning because all children in care should be entitled to the same level of care."
This trend coincides with a historic shift in the population of unaccompanied migrant children. Historically, that population has been almost exclusively from Spanish-speaking countries like Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.
But that population has become a lot more diverse in the last few years — with more unaccompanied children coming from countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East. They speak different languages, practice different religions and ORR has struggled to adjust, Donovan-Kaloust said.
The average length of stay for children from Africa is 138 days compared to 99 days for children from Spanish-speaking countries, according to internal data from Immigrant Defenders.
Discriminatory outcomes are more dramatic for children with particularly long stays.
"Every child that we serve who has been in care longer than 300 days — so almost a year awaiting long-term foster care placement — every one of those children except for one is from Africa or the Middle East," Donovan-Kaloust said.
ORR did not respond to a request for comment.
Immigrant Defenders has asked the agency to invest in more translation services and work with more diverse foster families who can house children from African and Middle Eastern countries.
They are also encouraging community members to step up and volunteer as foster parents.
Some of the unaccompanied children stay in ORR facilities so long that they age out. That’s what happened to Ibrahim, who entered the United States when he was 17.
Ibrahim remembers seeing other kids in the shelter leave as soon as they turned 18. He spent the months leading up to his own 18th birthday wondering if he’d end up homeless.
"It was hell for me," he said. "Because I didn’t know where I was going or where I’d end up. It was just me."
Besides the risk of homelessness, aging out of ORR facilities may also have a negative impact on someone’s immigration status, according to immigration lawyers.
That’s because unaccompanied children are eligible for specific programs that grant access to services like legal representation or a pathway to legal status — but only if they are in long-term housing and enroll before they turn 18. Because ORR facilities are meant to be temporary, unaccompanied children living in them are ineligible.
For example, the Unaccompanied Refugee Minor Program is for kids who are human trafficking victims or are in other vulnerable status.
"There are children who have been identified as trafficking victims who are eligible, but they just run out of time before their 18th birthday because of the long lengths of stay," Donovan-Kaloust said.
For Ibrahim, staff at the Immigrant Defenders Law Center worked around the clock to find him a place to go after he turned 18. They called dozens of homes, even knocked on doors trying to find someone in the community willing to take him in.
Eventually, they did.
Stable housing has been life-changing for Ibrahim.
"Now I have friends," he said. "We like to play soccer, go to the movies, hang out, try new food."
Ibrahim’s favorite new food? Carne asada tacos, he said.
He even enrolled in a local college and is studying to become a pilot.
"It’s something that has been a dream," he said. "I feel like I’m on a path toward my dream. So, I’m just trying to put in the work and get to where I want to be."
Even though he’s looking forward, Ibrahim can’t help but look back and think of all of the kids who are still in those ORR facilities.
"I want people to know how it felt in the shelter," he said. "What the kids are going through when they are being kept there for such a long time. It’s a very difficult situation to be in."
