Trump is stripping immigrant children of protections, critics say. Supporters say he's closing loopholes

In the nearly four years since Alexis arrived alone in the United States as a 17-year-old from El Salvador, he has been granted asylum, learned English, secured a job at a bakery and studied for his upcoming driver's license exam. This month he'll file an application for permanent residency.

Now 21, Alexis feared being targeted by gangs in El Salvador that had beat up his sister and killed boys in his neighborhood for refusing to join. Living with his aunt and uncle in south Los Angeles, Alexis finally feels safe.

None of that would have been possible if Alexis were applying for asylum now. Recent significant changes by the Trump administration to asylum policy for children who arrived in the U.S. without a parent or legal guardian mean that he wouldn't qualify.

"When I decided to come to the United States, that was a risk of my life," he said. "They should help us more than they are trying to right now. We are humans as well. We have rights."

The policy shift is the latest in a string of reversals by the administration in protections for immigrant children, who have been the most prominent collateral damage in its crackdown on migrants at the southern border. As the overarching flow of migration has gradually shifted from mostly single