By Lauren E. Bartlett

For over a decade, international human rights mechanisms have been calling for the prohibition of the detention of children based solely on immigration status. Human rights experts agree that the detention of children for immigration purposes is never in the best interests of the child, it leads to long-term harm, and it is a clear human rights violation. Yet, the United States continues to detain hundreds of thousands of migrant children each year the U.S. government still tries to justify its inhumane practices. This article argues that engaging with international human rights mechanisms on this topic, including during the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of the United States by the U.N. Human Rights Council in November 2025, is a small and relatively low stakes step to help forge a path towards the abolition of the immigration detention of children in the United States.

UNIVERSITY OF SAN FRANCISCO LAW REVIEW, VOL. 59, NO. 3 , 2025.