Valerie Gonzalez, Author at The Rapid City Post

An Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicle is parked outside the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) building Wednesday, Sept. 24, 2025, in Broadview, Ill. (AP Photo/Erin Hooley)

Trump administration offers migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to home countries

October 3, 2025

The Trump administration is offering migrant children $2,500 to voluntarily return to their home countries, dangling a new incentive in efforts to persuade people to self-deport. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement didn’t say how much migrants would get or when the offer would take effect, but The Associated Press obtained an email to migrant shelters saying children 14 years of age and older would get $2,500 each. ICE said in a statement that the offer would initially be for 17-year-olds. Advocates say the sizable sum may prevent children from making informed choices.

FILE - People rally outside the Supreme Court in support of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program (DACA), in Washington, Nov. 12, 2019. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Federal government could resume taking DACA applications for permits to live and work in U.S.

October 1, 2025

Expected changes to a six-year-old lawsuit in Texas against DACA could mean the federal government will resume taking new applications for the program that offers people without legal immigration status two-year, renewable permits to live and work in the U.S. legally. The proposal was filed in a Houston federal court by the federal government working to comply with a previous order from a higher appellate court. U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen could issue an order based on the proposal or make other changes. His decision is expected in several weeks; meanwhile, immigrant advocates encourage applicants to prepare cautiously.

FILE - Immigrants play soccer at a new U.S. government holding center for migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Texas, July 9, 2019. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Judge denies Trump administration request to end a policy protecting immigrant children in custody

August 15, 2025

A federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s request to end a policy protecting immigrant children in federal custody. The Flores agreement limits how long children can be held and requires safe conditions. U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in California says it was a repetitive attempt and she saw no reason to terminate it. President Donald Trump’s administration says the Flores Settlement Agreement hinders its immigration crackdown. In a hearing held last week, Gee questioned why a number of children are held longer than the 72-hour limit when border arrests are low. A government attorney cited logistical challenges and policy changes.

FILE - Immigrants seeking asylum walk through the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas, on Aug. 23, 2019. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Judge to consider the fate of an agreement on protecting immigrant children in US custody

August 7, 2025

A federal judge is set to hear a Trump administration request to end a long-standing policy on protections for immigrant children in federal custody. The Flores settlement limits how long Customs and Border Protection can hold immigrant children and requires safe conditions. Advocates argue the protections are necessary and have submitted accounts of poor conditions in detention centers. The Trump administration says conditions have improved since the settlement was formalized in 1997. But advocates for the children say the government is holding children beyond the time limits set out in the agreement. A hearing is set Friday in Los Angeles. The Trump administration request comes after the Biden administration successfully pushed to partially end the agreement last year.

A Border Patrol vehicle sits near where, in years past, volunteers would see hundreds of migrants daily crossing the border separating Mexico and the United States, Thursday, June 5, 2025, near Jacumba Hot Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)

U.S. Border Patrol is increasingly seen far from the border as Trump ramps up deportation arrests

June 23, 2025

Recent immigration arrests show on video are showing a pattern emerging: more Border Patrol agents are working away from the border. Traditionally, Border Patrol agents are seen at the southern border. But with a drastic drop in illegal entries along the Mexican border, agents are being reassigned to assist with interior arrests as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement faces a daily arrest target of 3,000. The immigration authority of Border Patrol agents allows them to make arrests and search and board vehicles, but their reach is limited depending on their location.

FILE - Immigrants seeking asylum walk at the ICE South Texas Family Residential Center, Aug. 23, 2019, in Dilley, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

New insight into Texas family detention reveals adults fighting kids for clean water

June 21, 2025

A new court filing in an ongoing legal dispute with the federal government reveals the psychological and physical trauma endured by children and families held at Texas family detention centers. Advocates for the immigrant families conducted site visits at the detention centers in Dilley and Karnes, Texas. Families shared testimony detailing medical failures, dirty drinking water, and the psychological effects on their children of prolonged detention. The court filing made Friday evening is attempting to persuade a federal court not to terminate a 90s era policy that requires safe and sanitary conditions for immigrant children in federal custody.

FILE - Migrants seeking asylum leave an immigration office after their scheduled meetings were canceled and they were turned away soon after President Donald Trump canceled the CBP One app, Jan. 20, 2025, in Matamoros, Mexico. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Trump administration hit with second lawsuit over restrictions on asylum access

June 12, 2025

The Trump administration is facing a second lawsuit over the shutdown of asylum at ports of entry, a legal pathway created by Congress under the Immigration and Nationality Act. Immigration advocates filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government on Wednesday, alleging that Trump’s proclamation issued on his first day in office is unlawfully shutting down asylum at ports of entry. The proclamation changed asylum policies after saying that the screening process at the border was leading to the “unauthorized entry of innumerable” people. Plaintiffs are asking a federal court to reopen access to asylum at ports of entry.

FILE - In this March 30, 2021, file photo, young unaccompanied migrants, watch television inside a playpen at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection facility, the main detention center for unaccompanied children in the Rio Grande Valley, in Donna, Texas. (AP Photo/Dario Lopez-Mills, Pool, File)

Trump administration seeks to end protections for immigrant children in federal custody

May 22, 2025

The Trump administration is seeking to end an immigration policy cornerstone that since the 1990s has offered protections to child migrants in federal custody, a move that will be challenged by advocates. The protections, known as the Flores Settlement, largely limit to 72 hours the amount of time that child migrants traveling alone or with family can be held by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. It also governs conditions in which they are held. A court filing proposes a July 18 hearing on the settlement before U.S. District Judge Dolly Gee in California.

Valerie Gonzalez.