Minor Wives: Married Girls in US Immigration Detention

Abstract

Executive Summary

Early marriage presents significant risks to the well-being of children around the world. Likewise, migrant children experience significant vulnerabilities in the United States as they confront complex legal and administrative proceedings. At a crucial intersection of migration and marriage, scholars, advocates, and lawmakers have recognized ways that US immigration law enables child marriage.

Research and public policy has yet to consider, however, a unique population at the juncture of marriage, migration, and childhood: wedded girls in immigration detention. Using administrative data that the Office of Refugee Resettlement provided in response to Freedom of Information Act requests and litigation, this study documents for the first time the reality of minor wives — married girls — in ORR immigration detention and the US government practice of releasing them to adult spouses and informal partners. The decision to release any minor from government custody to an adult sexual partner merits critical attention.

This study provides that initial critical attention and sets the stage for further research. Using a UNICEF definition of child marriage, this study considers both formal and informal unions. During the study period from October 1, 2014, to September 30, 2024, ORR released at least 427 minors to an adult sexual partner, 206 to a legal spouse and 221 to an informal partner. Because of data constraints that limit the identification of children in informal marriages, this study’s count likely underestimates the total number of children the US government has released from immigration detention to an adult sexual partner. Further, this study identifies and contextualizes risks for married migrant minors in the US states to which ORR has released the minors by reference to the states’ laws regarding the minimum age for marriage and statutory rape.

This article makes the following policy recommendations to reform the US detention system for migrant children:

As ORR makes decisions regarding a minor’s release from immigration custody to an adult sexual partner, it should document its consideration of the risks and benefits in a mandatory, rather than discretionary, home study.

If ORR decides to release a minor to an adult sexual partner, it should ensure that the release complies with relevant state law regarding marriage, sex, and consent.

ORR should develop and “implement robust feedback mechanisms to ensure solicitation, documentation and consideration” of minors’ own views (Heidbrink and Díaz 2024, 20) to demonstrate respect for minors’ autonomy regarding their relationships despite the compounded constraints of childhood, immigration detention, and undocumented legal status.

With access to additional qualitative data, further research could provide a greater understanding of ORR’s decision making processes than the quantitative data of this study allow.

Further research should assess short, medium, and long-term outcomes for girls released from ORR immigration detention to their adult sexual partners, both to support girls’ well-being and to better inform ORR decision making.