Federal Judge Bans Coercive Self-Deportation Tactics for Immigrant Children

A federal judge in California has ordered the Department of Homeland Security to stop using blatantly coercive language to persuade unaccompanied immigrant children to self-deport.

The order, issued on April 6, 2026, prohibits the government from using threats of prolonged detention to convince minors to waive their rights and leave the United States.

According to court documents, the Department of Homeland Security began using these legal advisals in September 2025. Detained minors were told they had the option to return to their home countries, which would result in no administrative consequences and would leave them eligible to apply for a visa in the future.

However, the government also informed these children that if they indicated a fear of leaving the U.S. Or chose to seek a hearing with an immigration judge, they could expect to be held at a detention facility for a prolonged period of time.

The ruling specifically protects unaccompanied children, who are defined as those in the country without a parent or legal guardian. The government had also told these minors that those who turned 18 while in custody would be turned over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deportation.

Legal Precedents and Court Protections

Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald ruled that the new advisals violated a 40-year-old court order that bans immigration agents from pressuring unaccompanied children to give up asylum claims.

In his orders, Judge Fitzgerald stated that the government’s threat of prolonged detention disturbingly mirrors the testimony provided during a 1985 trial involving Jose Antonio Perez-Funez.

Perez-Funez and other participants in that class action case testified that they were not informed of their rights to apply for bail or asylum, which led them to involuntarily waive those rights while detained by immigration agents as children. This testimony led the court to first order protections for children in 1986.

In addition to ordering the government to stop the use of coercive language, the court issued a separate order on April 6, 2026, denying a request from government lawyers to end these longstanding protections.