WASHINGTON D.C. — U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement awarded a one-year contract in mid-April 2025 to MVM Inc., a private security company, to assist in tracking unaccompanied immigrant children released into U.S. communities. The contract directs the firm to put boots on the ground and locate children previously released from government custody during their immigration court proceedings.

ICE characterizes the operation as safety and wellness checks intended to confirm a child's location, school enrollment, and overall wellness, including checking for signs of abuse or trafficking. An internal ICE document indicates the agency runs the operations with the aim of deporting the children or pursuing criminal cases against them or their adult sponsors.

"Accusations that ICE is 'targeting' and arresting children are FALSE and an attempt to demonize law enforcement," a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said. "Rather than separating families, ICE asks parents if they want to be removed with their children or if the child should be placed with someone safe the parent designates."

The spokesperson also addressed the role of the contractor. "MVM contractors have ZERO immigration enforcement authority. This partnership, as part of the UAC Safety Verification Initiative, 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.

MVM, based in Ashburn, Virginia, has about 2,500 employees and provides detention and transport services to federal immigration agencies. Founded in the late 1970s by former Secret Service agents, the company previously held a secret 2008 contract with the CIA in Iraq to provide security guards protecting agency staff. MVM did not respond to a detailed request for comment.

Eighteen companies offered services to ICE for the wellness checks operation. According to the contracting document, other firms lacked the boots-on-the-ground child welfare personnel and infrastructure to physically locate and conduct checks on children. The contract redacts the amount ICE is paying MVM and the number of checks to be performed.

In 2024, MVM was sued in California federal court by two Guatemalan fathers and their children over alleged torture, enforced disappearance, and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment for its role in the family separation policy under the first Trump administration. The lawsuit says two Guatemalan children, aged 16 and three, were separated from their fathers in 2017 with the substantial assistance of the company. "MVM physically took thousands of children away from their parents and transferred them to shelters," the lawsuit said. "MVM transported and harbored these children using unmarked vehicles, commercial airlines, and makeshift detention centers."

MVM asked a judge to toss the lawsuit, arguing that it had openly denounced the family separation campaign and as a private company should not be held liable for a U.S. government policy. In March 2025, a judge dismissed some claims on procedural grounds but allowed the case to continue based on the torture, enforced disappearance, and inhuman and degrading treatment claims. A 2024 Homeland Security inspector general report found that ICE was not able to adequately track unaccompanied minors; the report suggested that understaffing and deficient cross-agency communication were primarily responsible, rather than actual trafficking.

"This all seems like a ploy to do two things: one, find either kids or their sponsors to arrest and deport. Or, two, scare children into self-deporting," said Michael Lukens, an executive director. "Their parents know where they are, their lawyers know where they are, usually the courts know where they are. It's just ICE doesn't have their address in a file," he said.