- ICE hired MVM Inc., a firm sued for torture, to track migrant children.
- The company allegedly separated thousands of children from parents during 2017 policy.
- A federal lawsuit claims MVM used unmarked vehicles and makeshift detention centers.
- Critics warn the wellness checks may actually lead to deportations or child arrests.
- Democratic lawmakers demand oversight of the contract, whose details remain redacted.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has signed a one-year contract with a private security firm facing a federal lawsuit alleging torture and enforced disappearance to locate migrant children released into American communities, raising questions about the government's commitment to protecting vulnerable minors.
MVM Inc., a Virginia-based security contractor with a workforce of roughly 2,500, was brought on in mid-April to conduct what ICE describes as "safety and wellness checks" on children who entered the country unaccompanied, according to contracting documents reviewed by The Guardian.
The arrangement has drawn sharp criticism from immigration advocates and at least one Democratic lawmaker, who warn that a company with a documented history of alleged abuse should not be trusted with tracking children.
Lawsuit alleges torture
MVM is currently fighting a 2024 federal lawsuit brought by two Guatemalan fathers and their children in a California court, alleging "torture, enforced disappearance and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment" tied to the Trump administration's 2017 family separation policy.
According to the lawsuit, MVM employees "physically took thousands of children away from their parents" and transported them "using unmarked vehicles, commercial airlines, and makeshift detention centers."
The two children were aged 3 and 16 at the time they were separated from their fathers. A judge allowed the core claims of torture and enforced disappearance to proceed in March 2025, and the case remains active.
MVM has sought dismissal, arguing that as a private contractor it bears no legal responsibility for a federal government policy and that the company had "openly denounced" the family separation campaign.
DHS defends arrangement
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson insisted that "MVM contractors have ZERO immigration enforcement authority" and that the partnership "represents ICE's commitment to protect vulnerable children from sexual abuse and exploitation."
"The primary focus of this initiative is to conduct welfare checks on these children to ensure that they are safe and not being exploited or abused," the spokesperson said.
An internal ICE document obtained by The Guardian last year told a different story, however, indicating the operations are actually oriented toward deporting children or pursuing criminal cases against them or the adults legally sheltering them. Critics have characterized the effort as "backdoor family separation."
Of the 18 firms that competed for the wellness checks contract, ICE found the other bidders wanting, noting specifically that they lacked "the critical 'boots on the ground' child welfare personnel and infrastructure needed to physically locate and conduct wellness checks on children," according to contracting documents.
Track record of allegations
MVM's history with immigrant children extends well beyond the family separation era. In 2018, the company was accused of holding children in a vacant Phoenix office building for three weeks. An internal government database showed at least 16 children stayed at MVM facilities for more than 24 hours, which is a violation of ICE's contract with the company.
The buildings had no outdoor playgrounds, kitchens, showers, or bedrooms to separate age groups. One neighbor filmed vans unloading approximately 80 to 90 children from the facility.
MVM also confined immigrant children and families in hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic prior to their removal from the country. Last August, the non-profit newsroom Injustice Watch reported that MVM locked an immigrant woman and her baby inside a Chicago hotel for five days.
"We have seen MVM harm children in federal immigration custody in egregious ways for many years now," said Neha Desai, managing director of children's human rights and dignity at the National Center for Youth Law. "It is both deeply disturbing and completely unsurprising that this government has hired MVM to conduct so-called 'wellness checks.'"
Lawmaker demands oversight
Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois, who is of Guatemalan descent, has called on Congress to monitor the ICE-MVM arrangement.
"DHS continues to be a threat to our collective safety. It is beyond reckless to hire a company of dangerous bounty hunters, with a concerning track record of abuse, to 'track' immigrant children," she wrote on social media.
The financial terms of the contract have been withheld, and the total number of wellness checks MVM is expected to perform is similarly redacted.
This development arrives amid a broader immigration enforcement push. The Trump administration last year began intensifying efforts to track down children who entered the United States alone. A 2024 inspector general report from the Department of Homeland Security found that ICE lacked adequate systems to monitor unaccompanied minors, attributing the gap primarily to staffing shortfalls and poor inter-agency coordination.
The one-year contract raises questions about what happens when a company with a documented pattern of alleged abuse is tasked with locating children who may already be vulnerable. The DHS spokesperson denied that ICE is "targeting" or arresting children, calling such accusations "false and an attempt to demonize law enforcement."
But for critics who have watched MVM operate for years, the answer is clear.
"What will come next once MVM is involved will surely be even worse," Desai said.
As the lawsuit against MVM continues through federal court and the company begins its new role tracking children across America, the line between protection and enforcement grows increasingly difficult to discern. For the thousands of unaccompanied children who entered the United States seeking safety, the question remains: who is watching over them, and what do they intend to find?
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