By VALERIE GONZALEZ, Associated Press

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — President Donald Trump’s administration has started requiring parents looking to reunite with their children who crossed into the U.S. alone to show up for interviews where immigration officers may question them, according to a policy memo obtained by The Associated Press.

Legal advocacy groups say the shift has led to the arrest of some parents, while their children remain in U.S. custody. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security did not confirm that or answer questions about the July 9 directive, instead referring in a statement to the Biden administration’s struggles to properly vet and monitor homes where children were placed.

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The Office of Refugee Resettlement, which is part of the U.S. Health and Human Services Department and which takes custody of children who cross the border without a parent or legal guardian, issued the directive. The agency said the goal is to ensure that sponsors — usually a parent or guardian — are properly vetted.

The memo said sponsors must now appear in person for identification verification. Previously, sponsors could submit identity documents online. The directive also says “federal law enforcement agencies may be present to meet their own mission objectives, which may include interviewing sponsors.”

Neha Desai, managing director of human rights at the National Center for Youth Law, said the change provides U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement a “built-in opportunity” to arrest parents — something she said has already happened.

Mary Miller Flowers, director of policy and legislative affairs for the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights, said she knew of a case in which immigration officers arrested the father of a child under the age of 12 who had shown up for an identification check. “As a result, mom is terrified of coming forward. And so, this child is stuck,” Miller Flowers said.

Desai also said the interviews are unlikely to produce information authorities don’t already have. Vetting already included home studies and background checks done by Office of Refugee Resettlement staff, not immigration enforcement.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement said it communicates “clearly and proactively” with parents, telling them they may be interviewed by ICE or other law enforcement officials. It said parents can decline to be interviewed by ICE and that refusal won’t influence decisions about whether their children will be released to them.

“The goal is to ensure that every child is released to a stable and safe environment and fully vetted sponsors by ensuring the potential sponsor is the same individual submitting supporting documentation, including valid ID,” it said in a statement.

However, Desai is aware of a situation in which a sponsor was not notified and only able to decline after pushing back.

“We know of sponsors who are deeply, deeply fearful because of this interview, but some are still willing to go forward given their determination to get their children out of custody,” she said.

Trump administration points to Biden

Tricia McLaughlin, a Homeland Security spokesperson, issued a statement that did not address any arrests or mention the specific changes. Instead, she said the department is looking to protect children who were released under President Joe Biden’s administration.

A federal watchdog report released last year addressed the Biden’s administration struggles during an increase in migrant children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border in 2021. The Trump administration has dispatched Homeland Security and FBI agents to visit the children.

Another recent change allows ICE to interview children while they are at government-run shelters. That took effect July 2, according to a separate directive that the Office of Refugee Resettlement sent to shelters, also obtained by the AP.

The agency said it provides legal counsel to children and that its staff does not participate in interviews with law enforcement. Child legal advocates say they get as little as one-hour notice of the interviews, and that the children often don’t understand the purpose of the interview or are misled by officers.

“If we don’t understand what the interview is for or where the information is going, are we really consenting to this process?” said Miller Flowers, with the Young Center.

Jennifer Podkul, chief of global policy at Kids in Need of Defense, said some officers lack language skills, trauma-informed interviewing techniques and knowledge of the reunification process.

“It seems like it’s designed just to cast the net wider on immigration enforcement against adults,” she said.

String of policy changes adding hurdles to reunification process

The July changes are among a series of steps the Trump administration has taken to ramp up vetting of parents seeking to reunite with children.

The administration has required fingerprinting from sponsors and any adults living in the home where children are released. It has also required identification or proof of income that only those legally present in the U.S. could acquire, as well as introducing DNA testing and home visits by immigration officers.

Children have been spending more time in government-run shelters under increased vetting. The average length of stay for those released was 171 days in July, down from a peak of 217 days in April but well above 37 days in January, when Trump took office.

About 2,000 unaccompanied children were in government custody in July.

Shaina Aber, an executive director of the Acacia Center for Justice analyzing child custody data, attributes the longer custody times to the policy changes.

“The agency’s mission has been conflated and entangled,” she added. “It seems ORR’s mission has been somewhat compromised in that they are now doing more on the immigration enforcement side, and they’re not an immigration enforcement entity.”

Lake St. Croix Beach officials recently informed residents that the city mistakenly gave everyone a property tax break over the past three years.

City Clerk/Administrator Dave Engstrom said the city’s former contract accountant did not account for the city’s fiscal-disparity tax benefit in the city’s certified tax levy starting in 2023. “The wrong information was submitted by the contract accountant,” he said.

The total shortfall over the three-year period was $178,197. In 2023, for example, the city should have submitted to the county a tax levy of $630,597 instead of $560,829, an almost $70,000 shortfall, he said. The 2024 shortfall was $51,215; the 2025 shortfall was $57,214.

Lake St. Croix Beach residents learned about the error in a post written by City Attorney Christina Benson in the city’s August newsletter. “Residents will find, if they look at their 2023 tax record, that there was a significant percentage drop compared to the previous year,” Benson wrote. “The result of the Fiscal Disparity Levy not being accounted for is that residents were undercharged for taxes dating back to 2023.”

The Lake St. Croix Beach City Council went into closed session during a special meeting on Aug. 18 to discuss “potential litigation against … the city’s former financial consultant, regarding claims the city has asserted for professional malpractice,” Mayor Tom McCarthy said prior to the session. Engstrom said Thursday that he could not comment on what happened during the closed session, citing possible pending litigation.

The shortfall “did not cause any disruption to the day-to-day running of the city,” McCarthy wrote in the August newsletter. “All projects were completed as scheduled drawing from reserves. The micro-surfacing projects throughout the city streets were not impacted and will keep the roads in good condition. Rest assured that the budget for 2026 will reflect the Fiscal Disparity Levy.”

Fiscal-disparity revenue is property tax money collected on new commercial and industrial tax base growth in the seven-county metro area, Engstrom said. The money is placed in a pool and redistributed to communities and taxing districts. The system shifts the property tax base from the wealthiest areas to those with less tax base.

“It is a way to spread the wealth from the Bloomingtons and Woodburys of the metro area to smaller cities and cities that have minimal commercial and industrial development,” Engstrom said.

The city’s 2025 budget is $992,000; the city has a population of 1,060. City officials may decide to increase the city’s levy for 2026 and beyond to help make up for the shortfall; Engstrom said the city has until Sept. 30 to submit a preliminary levy for 2026. After that, city officials can adjust it lower, but not higher, by the end of the year, he said.

Residents seek investigation

A group of Lake St. Croix Beach residents has obtained the necessary number of signatures – 20 percent of the city’s voters in the last presidential election – to ask the Office of the State Auditor to investigate, said Cindie Reiter, who served on Lake St. Croix Beach City Council for more than 10 years, most recently from 2021 to 2024.

“We are concerned about the repetitive errors that have been made,” Reiter said. “They didn’t let anyone know that there was a shortfall when it was confirmed in early 2024. We are worried about the lack of transparency.”

Once that petition is received, the Auditor’s Office will likely meet with residents and decide whether to examine the books, records, accounts and affairs of the city, Reiter said.

Engstrom said the city would be responsible for covering the cost of the audit, which he estimated would cost around $30,000.

“We would have to take that $30,000 out of something else, probably road repairs,” he said. “I don’t think it would prove anything that the city audit didn’t already show.”

Reiter said: “Cost of the state audit is unknown until OSA reviews our request. We don’t know what it will cost. It’s based on what they determine they will look into. We think it’s worth asking for the review. It’s up to them to decide what they will review.”

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Doug Williams, who has lived in Lake St. Croix Beach since 1985, said he can’t fathom how such an error could have recurred over the course of three consecutive years and not been caught.

“That is stunning to me,” he said. “I find it to be extremely unusual. If I had made a substantial mistake like that when I was working, my employer would have taken immediate, substantive, substantial corrective action.”

He and others hope the Auditor’s Office will decide to investigate.

“It would be good to have the state come in and look at everything and say, ‘This is good, this needs to be fixed,’” he said. “And then there could be a reasonable sit-down to figure out how to fix it, and it gets taken care of, and life goes on. There’s no need for confrontation, conflict in a community of this size. I would really like to see that as the outcome.”

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 2, the 245th day of 2025. There are 120 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 2, 1945, Japan formally surrendered in ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay, ending World War II.

Also on this date:

In 1666, the Great Fire of London began, which would destroy more than 13,000 homes and hundreds of additional structures, including St Paul’s Cathedral, over the ensuing three days.

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In 1789, the United States Treasury Department was established.

In 1864, during the Civil War, Union Gen. William T. Sherman’s forces occupied Atlanta.

In 1935, a Category 5 hurricane slammed into the Florida Keys on Labor Day, claiming more than 400 lives.

In 1958, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the National Defense Education Act, which provided aid to public and private education to promote learning in such fields as math and science.

In 1963, Alabama Gov. George C. Wallace prevented the integration of Tuskegee High School by encircling the building with state troopers.

In 1969, in what some regard as the birth of the Internet, two connected computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, passed test data through a 15-foot cable.

In 1998, a Swissair MD-11 jetliner crashed off Nova Scotia, killing all 229 people aboard.

In 2005, a National Guard convoy packed with food, water and medicine rolled into New Orleans four days after Hurricane Katrina.

In 2013, on her fifth attempt, U.S. endurance swimmer Diana Nyad became the first person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the help of a shark cage.

In 2018, a huge fire engulfed Brazil’s 200-year-old National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, as firefighters and museum workers raced to save historical relics.

In 2019, a fire swept a vessel carrying recreational scuba divers that was anchored near an island off the Southern California coast; the captain and four other crew members were able to escape the flames, but 34 people who were trapped below died.

Today’s Birthdays:

Former United States Olympic Committee Chairman and former Major League Baseball commissioner Peter Ueberroth is 88.
Football Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw is 77.
Basketball Hall of Famer Nate Archibald is 77.
Actor Mark Harmon is 74.
Tennis Hall of Famer Jimmy Connors is 73.
Football Hall of Famer Eric Dickerson is 65.
British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is 63.
Actor Keanu Reeves is 61.
Boxing Hall of Famer Lennox Lewis is 60.
Actor Salma Hayek is 59.
R&B singer K-Ci is 56.
Electronic music DJ/producer Zedd is 36.

Napheesa Collier scored 25 points, Natisha Hiedeman added 20 points and a career-high 10 assists for her first double-double, and the Minnesota Lynx beat the Dallas Wings 96-71 on Monday night at Target Center.

Courtney Williams added 15 points and nine assists for the Lynx (32-8), who already wrapped up the No. 1 overall seed for the playoffs. Bridget Carleton had 12 points.

Paige Bueckers scored 17 points for the last-place Wings (9-33). Maddy Siegrist, Amy Okonkwo and Diamond Miller each added 12.

Collier and Williams both shot 7 for 10 as the Lynx made 55% (36 for 65) but Collier was 4 for 4 from 3-point range. Hiedeman was 4 for 5 behind the arc and Carleton 4 for 8 as the Lynx went 14 for 24 (58%). They also had 29 assists.

Dallas was 3 for 15 from long range and shot 39% overall.

Minnesota rested Kayla McBride, and DiJonai Carrington stepped into the starting lineup but did not play in the second half with a shoulder issue.

Collier had 11 points in the first quarter when the Lynx scored the last two baskets to take a 25-21 lead.

Dallas tied the score at 32 on Bueckers’ jumper with four minutes left in the second quarter but Williams, Carleton and Hiedeman hit consecutive 3s for the Lynx. After Siegrist scored inside for the Wings, Collier hit a 3 for a 44-34 lead just inside the two minute mark. It was 48-41 at the break.

Hiedeman had 10 points in the third quarter with her late 3 making it 71-59 entering the fourth.
Minnesota dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring the Wings 25-12.

The Lynx start a three-game road trip at Las Vegas on Thursday when the Wings are at Golden State.

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