Fact Sheets and Data

Current as of:

 

Fact Sheets

General Statistics

Data provided by fiscal year (October 1 — September 30)

Age | Country of Origin | Primary Language | Sex | Home Studies | Post-Release Services | Length of CareReferrals | Release to Sponsors


Age

Age breakdown of unaccompanied alien children by fiscal year (October 1 — September 30)

AgeFY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021FY2020FY2019FY2018FY2017FY2016FY2015FY2014FY2013FY2012
0-1224%19%15%16%16%16%15%17%18%17%21%14%11%
13-1412%12%13%13%12%12%12%13%14%14%16%13%11%
15-1631%34%36%39%37%37%37%37%37%38%36%40%39%
17+*33%35%36%33%35%35%35%32%31%30%27%34%38%

*Includes UC who were identified as 18 years old after ORR’s initial evaluation (0.13%).


Country of Origin

Primary countries of origin of youth in the Unaccompanied Alien Children Bureau in FY2024.

Country of OriginFY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021FY2020FY2019FY2018FY2017FY2016FY2015FY2014FY2013FY2012
Honduras20%28%29%32%25%30%26%23%21%17%34%30%27%
Guatemala32%42%47%47%48%45%54%45%40%45%32%37%34%
El Salvador8%9%13%13%14%18%12%27%34%29%29%26%27%
Mexico20%8%3%1%6%2%3%<3%3%6%<2%3%8%
All other countries19%13%8%7%8%5%<5%3%2%3%<3%5%4%


Primary Language

This table shows the five predominant languages spoken by unaccompanied alien children in ORR’s care by fiscal year.

LanguageFY2024
Spanish88,291 (87.95%)
Haitian Creole3,259 (3.25%)
Q'eqchi'1,475 (1.47%)
Mam966 (0.96%)
French922 (0.92%)


Sex

YearMalesFemales
FY202461%38%
FY202361%39%
FY202264%36%
FY202166%34%
FY202068%32%
FY201966%34%
FY201871%29%
FY201768%32%
FY201667%33%
FY201568%32%
FY201466%34%
FY201373%27%
FY201277%23%


Home Studies

Number of home studies conducted by ORR care providers each fiscal year. 

Fiscal YearHome Studies
202410,334
20238,175
20228,726
20215,373
20202,204
20194,859
20183,698
20173,064

 

 Post-Release Services

This table shows the number of unaccompanied alien children referred for post-release services (PRS) out of the total number of children released to sponsors in each fiscal year. 

Fiscal YearUnaccompanied Alien Children Released to Sponsor*Unaccompanied Alien Children Referred for PRS**Percentage of Unaccompanied alien Children Referred for PRS***
202499,41981,58882.1%
2023113,60267,62059.5%
2022128,10656,17143.8%
2021108,24529,77327.5%

Legend

* Number of unaccompanied alien children released to sponsors in each fiscal year. 
**Number of unaccompanied alien children referred for post-release services out of the total number of children released to sponsors in each fiscal year.
***Percentage of unaccompanied alien children referred for post-release services out of the total number of children released to sponsors in each fiscal year.

Note: From 2015 to 2020, the method used to calculate post-release services (PRS) utilization was the number of active PRS cases in a fiscal year. Thereby, a child who received PRS across several fiscal years would have been counted as an active case in each fiscal year. 

For example, a child was released to a sponsor in July of 2016 with a referral to post-release services (PRS). The child received PRS for 18 months, from August of 2016 to February of 2018, so, the case was open in FY2016 and remained an active case through FY2018. Thus, the case would have been counted in as a child served by PRS in each fiscal year. 

 

Length of Care

The average length of time an unaccompanied alien child remained in ORR care in FY2024 was 30 days.

FY2024FY2023FY2022FY2021FY2020FY2019FY2018FY2017FY2016FY2015
30272933696164514038

Note: The Length of Care data have been revised as of 01/08/24 to present an annual average.
 

Referrals

This reflects the number of referrals ORR receives from the Department of Homeland Security each fiscal year. Read more about referrals to ORR and initial placement.

YearReferrals
FY202498,356
FY2023118,938
FY2022128,904
FY2021122,731
FY202015,381
FY201969,488
FY201849,100
FY201740,810
FY201659,170
FY201533, 726
FY201457, 496
FY201324, 668
FY201213, 625

Release to Sponsors

View the number of unaccompanied alien children released to sponsors by state and by county.