Washington DC - US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has been asked by President Donald Trump's administration to track down and deport thousands of unaccompanied migrant children.

Trump is looking to have thousands of unaccompanied children deported by ICE without their parents or guardians, in his second administration's newest anti-immigrant attack.

According to government data, about 600,000 undocumented children have been referred to the Department of Homeland Security after crossing the border without a parent or guardian since 2019.

The push to escalate child deportations was revealed in an internal ICE memo reviewed by Reuters.

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Deportations will be carried out over four phases, the first one a planning phase that began on January 27. No other details are available regarding when and what each stage will entail.

ICE has categorized unaccompanied children into three groups: "Flight risks," "Public safety," and "Border security." It is unclear what the significance is of each of these groups.

The memo, which refers to the kids it targets as "Alien Children," plans to serve children with orders to appear in court. If they fail to show, or are denied asylum, they will be deported with or without an adult guardian.

"Children who arrive in the U.S. unaccompanied by parents or legal guardians often have survived targeted violence, abuse, persecution, or trafficking," Acacia Center for Justice (ACJ), a group which provides legal aid and services to unaccompanied children, said last week.

ACJ last week received notice from the US Department of Interior that legal service workers may "resume" work. The Trump administration had previously ordered that all legal services be cut for unaccompanied children.

"It is unconscionable to think that they should be forced to represent themselves in immigration court against a trained government attorney in an adversarial hearing before a judge, without even a child-friendly orientation or understanding of their legal options," ACJ stated.