Washington DC - President Donald Trump's administration is attempting to rapidly ramp up child deportations by asking teens who have arrived without their parents if they'd like to volunteer to leave the US.

Two officials at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a source familiar with the matter told CNN that the Trump administration wants federal agents to start asking teens to voluntarily depart the US.

The move breaks from a long-standing protocol that saw US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials required to turn unaccompanied children over to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for care.

Sources suggest that the policy applies to children aged between 14 and 17 years who have arrived in the US without their parents or guardians.

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CBP agents were reportedly directed this week to begin asking children if they will voluntarily self-deport.

If the child says yes, then they will be referred to ICE for deportation. In the case that they refuse or that ICE fails to collect them within 72 hours, they will be referred to HHS.

The policy has triggered outrage from children's rights organizations, who are concerned that children do not possess the ability to make such major life decisions without the help of a guardian or attorney.

"A child is in no position to understand the consequences of self-deporting," Neha Desai, managing director of Children's Human Rights at the National Center for Youth Law, told CNN.

"Unaccompanied children are being used as pawns in an effort to deport as many people as possible, regardless of the human toll it takes on the most vulnerable members of our community."