Much of immigration enforcement in the United States happens in jails and prisons, which can include youth detention facilities and youth prisons. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) – the federal agency that enforces federal immigration laws within the United States – often co-opts local law enforcement, including at times juvenile probation officials, to detect, arrest, and detain noncitizens in the U.S. so that they can be deported. 

For many years, California law enforcement led the country in the reporting of noncitizen youth to immigration authorities: juvenile probation and detention officers in various parts of the state routinely interrogated youth about their immigration status or information related to it, reported them to ICE and detained them for ICE to pick up. 

This resource explains how California laws protect noncitizen youth in the youth justice system from immigration enforcement.