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The tightening of immigration policy by United States President Donald Trump during his second term is pushing hundreds of immigrant families in Florida to make extreme decisions: surrendering legal custody of their children to relatives or activists, out of fear of being detained and deported, according to a recent report by NTN24 on this reality.
During his second term, which began on January 20, 2025, Trump has implemented a “tough on crime” policy characterized by mass deportations and new restrictions on the entry of foreigners, sparking fear among migrant communities in states like Florida. In this climate, an increasing number of undocumented parents are turning to legal guardianship figures to try to secure the future of their children born or raised in the United States.
The NTN24 report covers the case of Rosa, a 32-year-old Guatemalan migrant living in Florida, who was left alone with her two children after immigration authorities arrested her husband. Terrified at the possibility of being detained and her minors being left unprotected, she decided to grant custody of the children to a long-standing human rights activist in Miami.
“I work less and live with the fear of not returning home to my children. It’s very hard to explain. My son waits for his dad, and when he doesn’t arrive, he gets sad,” recounted the Central American woman, illustrating the emotional toll that the immigration crackdown is having on thousands of families. Rosa’s story is just one among many that are echoed in different counties of Florida, where operations by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have intensified in recent months.
The key figure in this type of family survival strategy is Nora Sandigo, a Nicaraguan activist who is a naturalized American citizen. For over 15 years, she has been legally taking guardianship of migrant children through her Miami-based foundation. Sandigo has become a reference point for parents who fear deportation and are seeking to prevent their children from ending up in the state foster care system.
According to the report, Sandigo is currently a guardian for nearly 350 children born in the United States and another 137 born abroad, although she has legally represented more than 2,000 children in total. Some of them have even lived with her and her daughters for extended periods after their parents' deportation, reflecting the level of vulnerability that many minors are exposed to.
The activist explains that she receives daily calls from desperate parents asking for help in preparing guardianship documents and leaving instructions in case they are abruptly detained. She also states that since the new administration took office, the number of requests has surged, particularly among workers in sectors such as agriculture, hospitality, and construction, where the presence of immigrant labor is significant.
"The new administration arrived with a rhetoric of persecution that generates terror among immigrants and immense anxiety in children. It's truly chilling," Sandigo warned the media. In his opinion, the current immigration policies can inflict deep emotional harm and foster lasting resentment in an entire generation of minors who grow up marked by the fear of losing their parents.
The tool that many of these families use is a temporary guardianship document that allows another trusted adult to make decisions for the minors in matters related to schools, hospitals, and courts, without the biological parents formally losing custody. While this arrangement does not prevent deportation, it aims to ensure a minimum level of stability and continuity for the children in situations of extreme vulnerability.
In Florida, where one of the largest immigrant communities in the country resides, ICE operations have significantly increased under the new federal guidelines. Human rights organizations and community support networks insist that the combination of raids, legal uncertainty, and stigmatizing rhetoric is pushing families into a kind of permanent "emergency plan," where entrusting the care of their children to others is seen as a necessary evil to protect them.
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