NEW ORLEANS, LA – In a move that has ignited a firestorm of legal and ethical concerns, a two-year-old United States citizen, along with two other US citizen siblings including a four-year-old battling metastatic cancer, were reportedly deported to Honduras by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) without what legal advocates are calling “meaningful process.” The deportations, which occurred on Friday, have prompted outrage from civil rights organizations and a sharp rebuke from a federal judge.
The three children, aged two, four, and seven, were reportedly deported with their Honduran-born mothers following routine check-ins with ICE in Louisiana. Lawyers representing the families allege that the mothers were effectively coerced into taking their US citizen children with them and were prevented from communicating with legal counsel or other family members in the crucial hours before their removal.
The most alarming detail involves the four-year-old boy, who is reportedly undergoing active treatment for a rare and aggressive form of stage four cancer. According to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the child was deported without his necessary medication and without any consultation with his treating physicians in the United States. This has raised grave concerns about his immediate health and access to ongoing medical care in Honduras.
In the case of the two-year-old girl, identified in court documents as V.M.L., a federal judge in Louisiana issued a scathing order expressing “strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.” Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, revealed that he had attempted to arrange a call with the child’s mother prior to deportation but was informed it was no longer possible as she had been released in Honduras.
Lawyers for the father of the two-year-old had filed for an emergency transfer of custody to the child’s US citizen aunt in a bid to prevent the deportation. Judge Doughty has scheduled an emergency hearing for May 16th to further investigate the circumstances surrounding the toddler’s removal.
The ACLU and other legal groups have condemned ICE’s actions as a “shocking and increasingly common abuse of power,” highlighting the agency’s alleged disregard for due process and the best interests of US citizen children. They argue that the mothers were given no real choice but to take their children with them, despite the availability of US citizen caregivers in the United States.
“These mothers were deprived of communication and any real alternatives by ICE,” stated Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project. “They didn’t give them a choice; these mothers only had the option to take their children with them despite loving caregivers being available in the United States to keep them here.”
ICE has yet to issue a detailed response to the allegations, but President Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, in a media appearance, stated that the children were not “deported” but rather accompanied their mothers who had been ordered deported. He argued that the mothers made the decision to take their children with them.
However, legal advocates vehemently dispute this characterization, asserting that the mothers were pressured and denied the opportunity to make informed decisions about their children’s welfare. They point to the rushed nature of the deportations, often occurring within hours of detention and with limited or no access to legal counsel.
The reported deportation of a US citizen child with a serious medical condition, along with the questionable circumstances surrounding the removal of the other two children, has amplified concerns about the Trump administration’s hardline immigration policies and their potential impact on the rights of American citizens. The upcoming hearing in Judge Doughty’s court is expected to shed further light on this troubling case and the legal battles that are likely to ensue.