The detention of five-year-old preschooler Liam Ramos by ICE in the Minneapolis area on Tuesday has raised questions about the legality of federal immigration agents detaining children—and the process that unfolds when they do.

Ramos, one of four students in the Columbia Heights Public School District recently detained amid the Trump Administration’s immigration crackdown in the region, is far from the only child taken into ICE custody over the past year. An analysis of ICE data obtained by [source] showed that under the second Trump Administration, the agency has detained at least 3,800 children, with over 500 of them under the age of five.

So what occurs after an immigrant child is detained by ICE? TIME spoke with a former ICE official and a legal expert to gain clarity on the policies guiding deportation operations in Minneapolis and across the nation. 

Can ICE agents legally detain children without a warrant?

According to ICE, officers and agents are permitted to briefly detain or arrest individuals if they have “reasonable suspicion” that those they encounter are immigrants who entered the country illegally. Officers often do not require a judicial warrant to make an arrest. 

In September, the Supreme Court allowed ICE to stop people based on factors such as race, language, clothing, location, or occupation, overturning a lower court ruling that had prohibited such practices.

What options do detained immigrant parents have to care for their children? 

In July, DHS issued a [directive] ensuring that detained parents can designate a caretaker for their children during their detention. The directive also stated that parents in detention facilities cannot be deported if they need to participate in family court, child welfare, or guardianship proceedings. 

In practice, however, finding an alternative caretaker for the children of detained parents can be challenging. Parents facing detention may opt to take their children with them if they cannot secure another caregiver. 

“A recurring issue is that undocumented parents or other undocumented relatives are not being considered as viable placements for these children,” says Sarah Mehta, deputy director of policy and government affairs for the Equality Division at the ACLU. “Consequently, more children are entering detention, even though there are numerous other options available.”

Why was Liam Ramos’ family transferred to Texas?

When parents choose to bring their children to a detention facility, ICE must transfer the family to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilly, Texas—the only U.S. facility equipped to house immigrant families awaiting deportation proceedings. 

Currently, the facility can accommodate up to 2,600 individuals, divided between family units and single adult females. The family detention facility operated under several previous administrations until the Biden Administration ended its use. Now, the new Trump Administration has restarted it, according to the former official. 

Under a court-mandated agreement known as the [Flores Settlement], children cannot be held in detention facilities for more than 20 days, though Mehta claims the government has been violating this agreement “consistently.”

“Thousands of children have been detained beyond 20 days, with some held for several months—an infringement of the law,” Mehta adds. 

How frequently do ICE agents arrest and detain children under 18 without their parents? 

ICE agents very rarely arrest immigrant children alone, according to the former ICE official who served under the Biden Administration. A child without a parent or legal guardian is classified as an unaccompanied minor and must, by law, be transferred by ICE to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) under the Department of Health and Human Services. ORR assists unaccompanied children in locating family members. 

In reality, the government has been attempting to hinder lawyers from accessing detained children through [measures] and creating other obstacles, Mehta notes. 

“As children remain in prolonged detention, it becomes even more difficult for them to find lawyers—and to secure representation,” she says.