The family's lawyers said the four-year-old and seven-year-old with US citizenship were sent to Honduras with their mothers to add to a recent line of American citizens who were caught up in the cross of Trump administration's immigrant crackdown.
The child and his mother were placed on a flight to Honduras on Friday. On the same day, another two-year-old child with US citizenship, a two-year-old girl, was sent to the country with her undocumented mother.
Lawyers for both families said mothers were not given the option to leave their children in the US before being deported. He also expressed concern that the administration had deported American children from his father's wishes if his 11-year-old brother was sent to Honduras, a two-year-old.
However, President Trump's border emperor Tom Homan denied the deportation of an American child. Speaking about the two-year-old's lawsuit over CBS' “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Homan said federal immigration agents chose whether their mother would be deported with or without children, leaving the country with her daughter.
The children come from two different families who lived in Louisiana. The family's attorney said the two-year-old mother was pregnant, and the boy, 4-year-old, has a rare form of late-stage cancer. They said the boy had no access to his medicines or doctors while he was in custody with his seven-year-old sister and mother.
The move comes as the Trump administration stepped up its efforts to enforce immigration and deport the United States. Around 800 immigrants were arrested in Florida last week in an operation involving US immigration and customs enforcement officers and state law enforcement officers.
Immigration advocates and the American Civil Liberties Union condemned the administration's actions and raised concerns about a legitimate process.
Gracie Willis, an attorney for the National Immigration Project, involved in the two-year-old case, said “what we see from the ice in the last few days is frightening and confusing,” referring to immigration and customs enforcement.
However, the government was standing firm. “Giving birth to a US citizen's child after entering the country illegally is not a free card that has been invaded,” Homan said.
Homeland Security spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said on Sunday that it is common for parents facing deportation to be taken away with their children, noting that the 2-year-old mother made the choice.
“We are responsible for serious protection of our children and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that our children are safe and protected,” McLaughlin said.
Both families were taken into custody during regular check-in with the ice last week. They were involved in the Intensive Supervisory Appearance Program, a probation program that allowed people in immigration lawsuits to stay in the country.
The two-year-old mother and her mother were taken into custody on April 22nd along with her 11-year-old brother who are not American citizens. The families of four and seven years old were taken into custody Thursday morning, attorney Erin Hebert said.
When they were taken into custody, the families were taken away several hours from New Orleans, the place of their appointment, their lawyers said, adding that they were prohibited from communicating with other families and their lawyers. Lawyers for both families said they would not be able to reach their mother until they arrived in Honduras.
Hebert said he attended the appointment with the family she represents, but the family was immediately taken into custody before speaking to them. She said she and her team are planning to challenge their families to deport them, but they still appreciate their next steps.
In a short order issued Friday from the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana, Judge Terry A. Doughty asked if the administration was identified only in the two-year-old record.
Trump's appointee Judge Doughty said “there is a strong suspicion that the government has just deported US citizens without a meaningful process,” and set up a hearing on May 16 to explore the issue.
“I've never seen anything like that,” Hebert said. “There is no good interpretation of what happened to these kids.”
Alain Fahre, Minho Kim, Hamed Areaziz and Brandon K. Thorpe Reports of contributions.
