Tag Archives: Biden administration

Newsweek: Kids of Afghan translator taken at green-card check living in fear—brother

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The children of an Afghan man who served with U.S. troops and entered the U.S legally are terrified to play outside after their father was detained at a green-card appointment, the man’s brother said.

Zia S., a 35-year-old father of five and former interpreter for the U.S. military, was apprehended by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents outside a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services office in East Hartford, Connecticut, on July 16, his lawyer told reporters on a press call.

The brothers requested that their names be withheld over safety concerns.

“His kids don’t even go out to play because they’re scared. And I didn’t even go out to work because I’m watching his kids,” Zia’s brother, who also served as interpreter, told Newsweek in an exclusive interview on July 30.

Why It Matters

Following the end of the U.S. military’s 20-year presence in Afghanistan in 2021, many Afghans who had assisted American forces were allowed entry into the United States through refugee programs, Special Immigrant Visas (SIVs) or Temporary Protected Status (TPS). However, policy changes under the Trump administration resulted in the termination of TPS for some people, raising concerns about potential deportations.

The U.S. ended TPS for Afghans effective July 14, 2025, according to a Department of Homeland Security notice published in May. President Donald Trump has vowed to remove millions of migrants without legal status. The White House said in January that anyone living in the country unlawfully is considered to be a “criminal.”

What To Know

Zia arrived in the U.S. on humanitarian parole in October 2024 and had been living in Connecticut, his lawyer told reporters during a press call.

He assisted U.S. troops in Afghanistan for about five years and fled the country with his family in 2021. Although they had received Special Immigrant Visa approvals and were pursuing permanent residency, Zia was placed in expedited removal proceedings.

A federal judge has issued a temporary stay on his deportation. After his initial detention in Connecticut, Zia was transferred to an immigration detention center in Plymouth, Massachusetts.

A senior Department of Homeland Security official told Newsweek on July 23 that the Zia “is currently under investigation for a serious criminal allegation.” Newsweek has requested more details from DHS surrounding the alleged wrongdoing.

Zia’s brother denied that he was involved in any criminality and said the allegations are “baseless.”

Both brothers served the U.S. military as interpreters. Zia’s brother came to the U.S. more than a decade ago through the same SIV program and eventually obtained U.S. citizenship, he said.

The detention has taken a toll on his wife, Zia’s brother said.

“His wife is suffering anxiety since he’s been detained,” he said. “And nobody sleeps. The family is awake all night.”

In a message to Trump, Zia’s brother said the family followed all legal procedures and expected the U.S. to honor commitments to its Afghan allies.

“We were promised wartime allies,” he said. “For our job, like when we have served with the U.S. and we helped the U.S. Army and our home country, and we were promised that you all would be going to the U.S. on legal pathways.

“They should stand on their promise. They should not betray us. They should not betray those who put their lives at risk and their families’ lives at risk for them.”

What People Are Saying

Senator Chris Murphy, a Connecticut Democrat, previously told Newsweek: “The Trump administration’s decision to turn its back on our Afghan allies who risked their lives and the lives of their families to support American troops in Afghanistan is unconscionable.”

A senior DHS Official told Newsweek: Zia is “a national of Afghanistan, entered the U.S. on October 8, 2024, and paroled by the Biden administration into our country.”

Zia’s attorney, Lauren Cundick Petersen, told reporters on a press call on July 22: “Following the rules are supposed to protect you. It’s not supposed to land you in detention. If he is deported, as so many of the people have articulated today, he faces death.”

What Happens Next

Zia is being held in a Massachusetts detention center and will remain in ICE custody, pending further investigation by DHS.

Kids of Afghan translator taken at green-card check living in fear—brother
“His kids don’t even go out to play because they’re scared,” the man’s brother told Newsweek.

https://www.newsweek.com/afghan-translator-ice-immigration-green-card-2107104

His Name Is Jesus. He’s a Carpenter. ICE Arrested Him.

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Seriously.

Jesus Teran fled persecution in Venezuela, seeking asylum in the United States in 2021 and joining his family in Imperial, Pennsylvania, half an hour outside Pittsburgh. He was living a version of the American Dream. Beloved by his community, he gave food to the needy, and when they created a communal garden to forge ties between a mostly white church and his more Latino one, Jesus was there, tilling the ground, repairing a faulty tiller, and watering the plants twice a week, according to the Observer-Reporter, a local paper.

Jesus, 35, trained in Venezuela to be a civil engineer. But he lacked the credentials or English skills to pursue that profession in the United States. So he made do by working at convenience stores and delivering with DoorDash. He did this all while learning English, his former teacher Barbara Hopkins told me.

It seemed his hard work was paying off when he was accepted into the carpenters apprenticeship program at the KML Carpenters Training Center in the winter of 2024. The promise of working construction wasn’t as alluring as being an engineer, but it was a step up the ladder. His family was elated.

Then, this year, Jesus’s life was thrown into chaos. On July 8, he went for a customary check-in at the ICE Pittsburgh field office. But he was detained and sent to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Phillipsburg, three hours away from where the family lives.

Jesus’s detention resembles thousands of other stories that are quickly defining American society in the age of Trump deportations. It has shaken his church community and inspired local leaders, union representatives, and Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh retired Bishop David Zubik to write more than twenty letters on his behalf.

“It’s been a heartbreaking experience. He’s been faithfully appearing at ICE appointments for more than four years, he was following the protocols of ICE, he was complying with everything he’s supposed to do. All of a sudden, he’s detained,” said Rev. Jay Donahue of St. Oscar Romero Parish, where Jesus’s family are members. “Jesus is not someone who should be subjected to this undignified experience that he’s going through. It’s a shame the way they are treating him; it is inhumane. It’s been inspiring to see the community rally around Jesus and to recognize what he means to our community.”

Jesus was denied entry into the United States in 2015, before successfully entering six years later. Still, that previous attempt to enter reduces the chances that his asylum claim would be successful. Further, a successful asylum process can take years.

Charles Kuck, a top immigration lawyer, said that even if Jesus’s asylum claim were denied during the Biden administration, it wasn’t a guarantee that he would have to be immediately removed. There are cases where people receive a withholding of removal, Kuck explained, “when they don’t want to deport you, if you’re a good person.”

Jesus’s family declined multiple requests to speak for this story, so additional details about his case are difficult to glean. But what I discovered when talking to friends, colleagues, and even his former teachers ….

His Name Is Jesus. He’s a Carpenter. ICE Arrested Him.
Seriously.

https://www.thebulwark.com/p/his-name-is-jesus-carpenter-arrested-ice-venezuela-pennsylvania-immigration

CBS News: ICE head says agents will arrest anyone found in the U.S. illegally

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In an exclusive interview with CBS News, the head of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement said his agents will arrest anyone they find in the country illegally, even if they lack a criminal record, while also cracking down on companies hiring unauthorized workers.

Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, said his agency will prioritize its “limited resources” on arresting and deporting “the worst of the worst,” such as those in the U.S. unlawfully who also have serious criminal histories.

But Lyons said non-criminals living in the U.S. without authorization will also be taken into custody during arrest operations, arguing that states and cities with “sanctuary” policies that limit cooperation between ICE and local law enforcement are forcing his agents to go into communities by not turning over noncitizen inmates.

“What’s, again, frustrating for me is the fact that we would love to focus on these criminal aliens that are inside a jail facility,” Lyons said during his first sit-down network interview on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.” “A local law enforcement agency, state agency already deemed that person a public safety threat and arrested them and they’re in detention.”

“I’d much rather focus all of our limited resources on that to take them into custody, but we do have to go out into the community and make those arrests, and that’s where you are seeing (that) increase” in so-called “collateral” arrests, Lyons added, referring to individuals who are not the original targets of operations but are nonetheless found to be in the U.S. unlawfully.

Collateral arrests by ICE were effectively banned under the Biden administration, which issued rules instructing deportation officers to largely focus on arresting serious criminal offenders, national security threats and migrants who recently entered the U.S. illegally. That policy was reversed immediately after President Trump took office for a second time in January.

As part of Mr. Trump’s promise to crack down on illegal immigration, his administration has given ICE a broad mandate, with White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller pushing the agency to conduct 3,000 daily arrests. While ICE has so far not gotten close to that number, the agency just received tens of billions of dollars in additional funds from Congress to turbo-charge its deportation campaign.

Lyons said “it’s possible” to meet the administration’s target of 1 million deportations in a year with the new infusion of funds. ICE has recorded nearly 150,000 deportations in Mr. Trump’s first six months in office, according to internal government data obtained by CBS News.

From Jan. 1 to June 24, ICE deported around 70,000 people with criminal convictions, but many of the documented infractions were for immigration or traffic offenses, according to data obtained by CBS News.

While the administration frequently highlights arrests of non-citizens convicted of serious crimes like murder and rape, ICE also has sparked backlash in communities across the country due to some of its tactics and actions, including the use of masks by agents (which Lyons said will continue due to concerns about the safety of his officers), arrests of asylum-seekers attending court hearings and raids on worksites.

“ICE is always focused on the worst of the worst,” Lyons said. “One difference you’ll see now is under this administration, we have opened up the whole aperture of the immigration portfolio.”

Lyons promises to hold companies accountable 

Another major policy at ICE under the second Trump administration is the lifting of a Biden-era pause on large-scale immigration raids at worksites.

In recent weeks, federal immigration authorities have arrested hundreds of suspected unauthorized workers at a meatpacking plant in Nebraska, a horse racetrack in Louisiana and cannabis farms in southern California. At the cannabis farms alone, officials took into custody more than 300 immigrants who were allegedly in the country unlawfully, including 10 minors.

Amid concerns from industry leaders that Mr. Trump’s crackdown was hurting their businesses, ICE in June ordered a halt to immigration roundups at farms, hotels and restaurants. But that pause lasted only a matter of days. Since then, the president has talked about giving farmers with workers who are not in the U.S. legally a “pass,” though his administration has not provided further details on what that would entail.

In his interview with CBS News, Lyons said ICE would continue worksite immigration enforcement, saying there’s no ban on such actions. He said those operations would rely on criminal warrants against employers suspected of hiring unauthorized immigrants, which he said is not a “victimless crime,” noting such investigations often expose forced labor or child trafficking.  

“Not only are we focused on those individuals that are, you know, working here illegally, we’re focused on these American companies that are actually exploiting these laborers, these people that came here for a better life,” Lyons said.

Asked to confirm that ICE plans to hold those employing immigrants in the U.S. illegally accountable — and not just arrest the workers themselves — Lyons said, “One hundred percent.”

ICE head says agents will arrest anyone found in the U.S. illegally, crack down on employers of unauthorized workers
Immigration agents will arrest anyone they find in the country illegally, even if they lack a criminal record, acting ICE Director Todd Lyons said in an exclusive CBS News interview.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/ice-head-todd-lyons-agents-will-arrest-anyone-found-illegally-crack-down-on-employers

Daily Mail: Airline that deports ICE detainees suspends west coast operation after pro-migrant protests

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An airline which has been operating deportation flights for the Trump administration has announced major closures after furious pro-migrant protests at several airports. 

Texas-based budget carrier Avelo Airlines said this week that it will close down its west coast operations at Hollywood Burbank Airport as it struggles financially.

The company said it will reduce its operation at the airport to one aircraft until December 2 and then close the base which currently serves 13 routes.

Avelo said the protests and its contract with DHS did not have any effect on its decision to close the base and have not impacted its business.

‘We believe the continuation service from (Burbank) in the current operating environment will not deliver adequate financial returns in a highly competitive backdrop,’ the company said in a statement.

However, the airport has been the target of several fiery rallies by pro-migrant protesters who have hailed the closure as a response to their calls for a boycott. 

They include Nancy Klein, from Hollywood, California, who organized seven protests with activist groups CA27Indivisible and East Valley Indivisible in Southern California. 

‘This change in Avelo’s business operations is some evidence that being on the right side of history, while being principled and persistent, can make a difference,’ Klein said, adding that another protest is planned at Burbank Airport on July 27. 

The airline signed a contract with the US Department of Homeland Security in April to transport migrants to detention centers inside and outside America. 

It faced backlash from customers and employees over its partnership with the DHS. 

Protests unfolded across the country from outside the Burbank Airport to their hub in New Haven, Connecticut, calling on the airline to end its partnership with the DHS and for customers to boycott the carrier. 

Susan Auerback slammed Avelo for using migrant deportations ‘for their economic benefit’ during a protest at Burbank airport earlier this year.  

‘We will not stand for these mass deportations and we will intervene wherever we can to stop the operation of them,’ she told ABC7 reporters at the scene on April 28. 

‘Protesting an airline that has just decided that this is for their economic benefit to be part of this unjust policy is why we’re here.’

Avelo’s CEO, Andrew Levy, defended the decision at the time, adding that the airline also operated deportation flights under the Biden administration. 

‘We realize this is a sensitive and complicated topic,’ Levy said in a statement. 

‘After significant deliberations, we determined this charter flying will provide us with the stability to continue expanding our core scheduled passenger service and keep our more than 1,100 Crewmembers employed for years to come.’

Avelo said it had made several changes over the past few years to its West Coast operations but they did not produce the results necessary to continue presence there.

Commercial flights to west coast locations are no longer available to buy on the Avelo website.  

The Daily Mail has contacted Avelo for clarity on when commercial listings were dropped, and more information on the DHS operations. 

Boycott Avelo Airlines!

Airline that deports ICE detainees suspends west coast operation
Texas-based budget carrier Avelo Airlines said this week that it will close down its west coast operations at Hollywood Burbank Airport as it struggles financially.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14910985/west-coast-avelo-airlines-suspended-pro-migrant-protests-ice.html

Boycott Avelo Airlines!

Salon: “Cried every night”: ICE traumatizes a child with leukemia

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The Trump administration is going after easy targets, including sick children, to meet its deportation quotas

As part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, a young cancer patient and his family were detained, despite adhering to every rule of the immigration process. The boy’s lawyer says the family’s experience puts to lie the Trump administration’s claims about deportation.

In May, a 6-year-old boy from Honduras who had been suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia since the age of three was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alongside his family, immediately after a court hearing on May 29. Their case was dismissed at the hearing, per instructions from Trump, who directed judges to dismiss the cases of immigrants who have been in the country for less than two years so that ICE can move to deport them. On July 2, the family was released after significant pressure from the public and media coverage of the detention.

Elora Mukherjee, an attorney who represented the boy and his family, told Salon that the boy and his 9-year-old sister “cried every night in detention.” At the same time, the government pursued an expedited removal, a process by which the government deports someone without a hearing before a judge.

“The Trump administration’s policy of detaining people at courthouses who are doing everything right, who are entirely law-abiding, who are trying to fulfill all the requirements that the US government asks of them — it violates our Constitution, it violates our federal laws. It also violates our sense of morality. Why are we targeting hundreds, if not thousands, of people, including children, who are doing everything right?” Mukherjee said.

Jeff Migliozzi, the communications director for Freedom for Immigrants, an immigrant advocacy organziation, told Salon that “The Trump administration’s aggressive quota of 3,000 daily immigration arrests — a policy pushed by hardliners in the White House like known white nationalist Stephen Miller — is terrorizing communities.”

“The administration is directing resources and personnel from every possible corner of the government to conduct a multi-agency detention and deportation campaign at unprecedented scale,” Migliozzi said.. “This destructive agenda touches every corner of American life and civil society, as more and more people, including those who have been in the US for decades and are pillars of their community, are suddenly snatched by masked agents and taken away to remote detention sites. Street operations are resource-intensive, so the administration has increasingly turned to bait-and-switch tactics to drive up the numbers. ICE is now relying more on arrests at scheduled check-ins and at courthouses. These practices underscore not only the cruelty of this administration’s policy, but of the outdated and unfair immigration system. Here you have people doing everything they can to follow the instructions given to them, and then the rug is pulled out from under them. The result is separated families and shattered lives.”

Despite living in Los Angeles, the family was kept at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas for over a month. The center had been closed under the Biden Administration, but has been reopened as part of Trump’s push to deport as many immigrants as possible.

In detention, Mukherjee said that the boy suffered from easy bruising and bone pain, both symptoms of leukemia, and missed a June 5 medical appointment related to his cancer treatment. His sister barely ate in detention, she added.

In response to a request for comment from Salon, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, “ICE does not consider a six-year-old child a ‘flight risk’ or a ‘criminal’—that is a disgusting accusation and devoid of any reality. ”

McLaughlin claimed that the family entered the United States illegally and that “Any implications that ICE would deny a child proper medical care are FALSE,” adding that “ICE ALWAYS prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of all detainees in its care.”

“On May 29, 2025, an immigration judge in California dismissed the family’s immigration case and they were served orders of expedited removal,” McLaughlin said. “ICE took custody of the family following the judge’s decision and pending further proceedings. The child arrived at the Dilley facility on May 30, 2025, and was seen by a nurse during intake. Fortunately, the child has not undergone chemotherapy in over a year and was seen regularly by medical personnel while at the Dilley facility. During this time, the family chose to appeal their case. On July 2, the child, his mother, and his sister were released on parole.”

The Dilley detention facility has been subject to renewed scrutiny as the Trump administration has sought to terminate the Flores Settlement, a 1990s-era policy stemming from the Supreme Court case Reno v. Flores, which set basic standards for the treatment of children in detention and required the government to release children from detention without unnecessary delay.

Recent testimony about conditions at ICE facilities has raised concerns over violations of the agreement, with one girl describing situations in which adults and children were fighting over an insufficient amount of water at one facility.

“We don’t get enough water. They put out a little case of water, and everyone has to run for it,” the girl said in testimony related to conditions in immigrant detention. “An adult here even pushed my little sister out of the way to get to the water first.”

Mukherjee said that the family had followed all the rules in coming to the United States, but were still arrested by ICE. And, despite claims from the Trump administration that they’re focusing their efforts on criminals, neither the small children nor the mother had been accused of a crime. The family arrived in the United States in October, applying for asylum after they faced death threats in Honduras. The names and details of the family have not been released due to the threats they face in Honduras.

“So this particular family did everything right. They came to the U.S. border after fleeing imminent and menacing death threats in their home country of Honduras. They didn’t cross the border illegally. They waited for permission to enter the United States using a CBP one appointment. At that point, DHS paroled the family into the United States, which necessarily entailed a determination that the family did not pose a danger to the community or a flight risk,” Mukherjee said. “The family did exactly what the federal government asked them to do.”

According to Mukherjee, as soon as the family stepped out of their May 29 hearing, plain clothes ICE officers detained them, a move that she said “clearly violates both the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment.”

“When Trump was campaigning for president, and since he’s become president, and high-level officials in the Department of Homeland Security constantly say that we are targeting the ‘worst of the worst,’” Mukherjee said. “These are the people who are doing everything right.”

Their release followed a suit filed by the mother of the family, demanding the family’s immediate release. Mukherjee told Salon that the family intends to continue its legal battle to remain in the United States.

“Cried every night”: ICE detains child with leukemia – Salon.com
The Trump administration is going after easy targets, including sick children, to meet its deportation quotas

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/14/cried-every-night-ice-traumatizes-a-child-with-leukemia

Inquisitr: Kristi Noem Defends ‘Inhumane’ Conditions at Alligator Alcatraz in Latest Interview—Tells Immigrants to ‘Self Deport’

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Kristi Noem and NBC’s Kristen Welker didn’t exactly have a friendly Sunday chat. Instead, their exchange on Meet the Press got heated fast over Florida’s controversial new migrant detention center, grimly nicknamed “Alligator Alcatraz.”

This sprawling facility in the Florida Everglades has space for nearly 4,000 people and is already holding about 900. It’s been under a harsh spotlight after Democratic lawmakers visited on Saturday. Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz didn’t mince words, calling it an “internment camp.” She and other Democrats claimed detainees were crammed “wall-to-wall” into cages, forced to drink water from sinks also used for the bathroom, and left sweltering in the brutal Florida heat.

“Our detention centers at the federal level are held to a higher standard than most local or state centers and even federal prisons. The standards are extremely high, now this is a state-run facility at Alligator Alcatraz —” she started before Welker jumped in.

“More than 30 people stuffed into a jail cell?” Welker shot back.

“I wish they would have said that back during the Biden administration and back when the Democrats were in the White House when they were piling people on top of each other on cement floors and they didn’t have two feet to move. They never did that, and that’s why this politics has to end,” she fired back.

Trying to clarify the setup, Noem added, “I wouldn’t call them jail cells, I would call them a facility where they are held and that are secure facilities, but are held to the highest levels of what the federal government requires for detention facilities –” before Welker cut in again.

“Democrats have called them cages,” Welker pressed.

Noem wasn’t backing down. She vowed to let cameras inside to document conditions firsthand, arguing it would show they’re better than facilities from Biden’s time. She even encouraged undocumented immigrants to avoid the centers altogether. Her advice? Self-deport, then come back legally.

Meanwhile, Trump administration Border Czar Tom Homan was on CNN’s State of the Union making his own digs at Democrats for suddenly caring about detention conditions now that Trump is back in charge.

“You didn’t see them complaining about, under Biden administration, people being held in a border patrol parking lot surrounded by a fence and sweltering heat, they ignored four years of open borders, historic migrant deaths, historic Americans dying from fentanyl, historic numbers of women and children being sex trafficked,” Homan said.

All of this comes as Trump’s administration keeps doubling down on aggressive deportation policies, trying to lock down the southern border, and triggering fresh legal challenges in the process.

Because apparently in American politics, even the debate over cages comes with its own round of finger-pointing, whataboutism, and promises to invite in the cameras, just in case anyone wants to watch the argument unfold in 4K.

Kristi Noem Defends ‘Inhumane’ Conditions at Alligator Alcatraz in Latest Interview—Tells Immigrants to ‘Self Deport’
Kristi Noem defends the controversial Alligator Alcatraz detention center in a heated exchange with NBC’s Kristen Welker.

Salon: “Cried every night”: ICE detains child with leukemia

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As part of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign, a young cancer patient and his family were detained, despite adhering to every rule of the immigration process. The boy’s lawyer says the family’s experience puts to lie the Trump administration’s claims about deportation.

In May, a 6-year-old boy from Honduras who had been suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia since the age of three was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, alongside his family, immediately after a court hearing on May 29. Their case was dismissed at the hearing, per instructions from Trump, who directed judges to dismiss the cases of immigrants who have been in the country for less than two years so that ICE can move to deport them. On July 2, the family was released after significant pressure from the public and media coverage of the detention.

Elora Mukherjee, an attorney who represented the boy and his family, told Salon that the boy and his 9-year-old sister “cried every night in detention.” At the same time, the government pursued an expedited removal, a process by which the government deports someone without a hearing before a judge.

“The Trump administration’s policy of detaining people at courthouses who are doing everything right, who are entirely law-abiding, who are trying to fulfill all the requirements that the US government asks of them — it violates our Constitution, it violates our federal laws. It also violates our sense of morality. Why are we targeting hundreds, if not thousands, of people, including children, who are doing everything right?” Mukherjee said.

Jeff Migliozzi, the communications director for Freedom for Immigrants, an immigrant advocacy organziation, told Salon that “The Trump administration’s aggressive quota of 3,000 daily immigration arrests — a policy pushed by hardliners in the White House like known white nationalist Stephen Miller — is terrorizing communities.”

“The administration is directing resources and personnel from every possible corner of the government to conduct a multi-agency detention and deportation campaign at unprecedented scale,” Migliozzi said.. “This destructive agenda touches every corner of American life and civil society, as more and more people, including those who have been in the US for decades and are pillars of their community, are suddenly snatched by masked agents and taken away to remote detention sites. Street operations are resource-intensive, so the administration has increasingly turned to bait-and-switch tactics to drive up the numbers. ICE is now relying more on arrests at scheduled check-ins and at courthouses. These practices underscore not only the cruelty of this administration’s policy, but of the outdated and unfair immigration system. Here you have people doing everything they can to follow the instructions given to them, and then the rug is pulled out from under them. The result is separated families and shattered lives.”

Despite living in Los Angeles, the family was kept at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas for over a month. The center had been closed under the Biden Administration, but has been reopened as part of Trump’s push to deport as many immigrants as possible.

In detention, Mukherjee said that the boy suffered from easy bruising and bone pain, both symptoms of leukemia, and missed a June 5 medical appointment related to his cancer treatment. His sister barely ate in detention, she added.

In response to a request for comment from Salon, Tricia McLaughlin, the assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security, “ICE does not consider a six-year-old child a ‘flight risk’ or a ‘criminal’—that is a disgusting accusation and devoid of any reality. ”

McLaughlin claimed that the family entered the United States illegally and that “Any implications that ICE would deny a child proper medical care are FALSE,” adding that “ICE ALWAYS prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of all detainees in its care.”

Bullshit!!! It’s all about cruelty and terror!

“On May 29, 2025, an immigration judge in California dismissed the family’s immigration case and they were served orders of expedited removal,” McLaughlin said. “ICE took custody of the family following the judge’s decision and pending further proceedings. The child arrived at the Dilley facility on May 30, 2025, and was seen by a nurse during intake. Fortunately, the child has not undergone chemotherapy in over a year and was seen regularly by medical personnel while at the Dilley facility. During this time, the family chose to appeal their case. On July 2, the child, his mother, and his sister were released on parole.”

The Dilley detention facility has been subject to renewed scrutiny as the Trump administration has sought to terminate the Flores Settlement, a 1990s-era policy stemming from the Supreme Court case Reno v. Flores, which set basic standards for the treatment of children in detention and required the government to release children from detention without unnecessary delay.

Recent testimony about conditions at ICE facilities has raised concerns over violations of the agreement, with one girl describing situations in which adults and children were fighting over an insufficient amount of water at one facility.

“We don’t get enough water. They put out a little case of water, and everyone has to run for it,” the girl said in testimony related to conditions in immigrant detention. “An adult here even pushed my little sister out of the way to get to the water first.”

Mukherjee said that the family had followed all the rules in coming to the United States, but were still arrested by ICE. And, despite claims from the Trump administration that they’re focusing their efforts on criminals, neither the small children nor the mother had been accused of a crime. The family arrived in the United States in October, applying for asylum after they faced death threats in Honduras. The names and details of the family have not been released due to the threats they face in Honduras.

“So this particular family did everything right. They came to the U.S. border after fleeing imminent and menacing death threats in their home country of Honduras. They didn’t cross the border illegally. They waited for permission to enter the United States using a CBP one appointment. At that point, DHS paroled the family into the United States, which necessarily entailed a determination that the family did not pose a danger to the community or a flight risk,” Mukherjee said. “The family did exactly what the federal government asked them to do.”

According to Mukherjee, as soon as the family stepped out of their May 29 hearing, plain clothes ICE officers detained them, a move that she said “clearly violates both the Fourth Amendment and the Fifth Amendment.”

“When Trump was campaigning for president, and since he’s become president, and high-level officials in the Department of Homeland Security constantly say that we are targeting the ‘worst of the worst,’” Mukherjee said. “These are the people who are doing everything right.”

Their release followed a suit filed by the mother of the family, demanding the family’s immediate release. Mukherjee told Salon that the family intends to continue its legal battle to remain in the United States.

“Cried every night”: ICE detains child with leukemia – Salon.com
The Trump administration is going after easy targets, including sick children, to meet its deportation quotas

https://www.salon.com/2025/07/14/cried-every-night-ice-traumatizes-a-child-with-leukemia

Independent: Judges are deporting record numbers of young children under Trump

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A far cry from the “bad, hard criminals” Donald Trump said his undocumented immigrants crackdown would focus on, record-breaking numbers of deportation orders have been issued to young immigrant children under the Trump administration, The Independent can reveal.

More kids aged 11 or under — 8,317 — received a removal order from an immigration court in April than any other month in over 35 years of data collection, according to court data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC).

Since Trump’s inauguration in January, judges have ordered removals for over 53,000 immigrant minors.

Those children are predominantly elementary school age or younger. Some 15,000 children were aged under four years old, and 20,000 of them were children aged four to eleven.

Teenagers are also experiencing climbing deportations, with 17,000 seeing a court-ordered removal, although that’s lower than their all-time peak in 2020 under the first Trump administration.

Some of these children being deported are unaccompanied minors, who do not have a legal guardian in the US; though the exact number is unclear, since immigration authorities stopped recording this data years ago.

Children, including toddlers, are required to show up at immigration hearings to be questioned by a judge – and many, unsurprisingly, do not understand what is happening nor the gravity of their situation.

In one case, a source tells the Independent, a young child from Haiti had his immigration court hearing remotely in front of a screen. The child, who had a learning disability, was fidgeting and running around the room. Finally, he pointed at the judge on the screen and asked – “Who’s that?”

In other cases, children are being arrested by ICE with their families, but held in detention and deported separately.

“A six year old child was picked up [by ICE] with his father, separated from his dad, and parked in custody for four months before being deported,” a lawyer familiar with children’s immigration cases told the Independent. The child was unable to receive legal assistance, as he was deported while federal legal funding had been cut.

The deportation outcome rate for immigrant children under age 11 is higher than in any other age group, latest figures show, and has jumped significantly since Trump came into office.

What’s more, under-18s account for one in four (26 percent) of all deportations ordered in immigration court since January – despite the fact that minors make up just 11 percent of the undocumented population.

The vast majority (76 percent) of children under 11 do not have legal representation, and cases are being sped through the system, according to sources close to the courts.

“This is pumping up the deportation numbers on the back of kids – their rights to safety and due process are not respected,” the immigration lawyer told the Independent.

“This is about striking fear in the hearts of everybody. It’s demonstrable cruelty in the name of so-called deterrence.”

Department of Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin responded to the Independent:

“Accusations that ICE is ‘targeting’ children are FALSE and an attempt to demonize law enforcement. ICE does not ‘target’ children nor does it deport children. Rather than separate families, ICE asks mothers if they want to be removed with their children or if the child should be placed with someone safe the parent designates.”

Highest-ever deportations for young children

Immigration crackdowns across the country have been almost indiscriminate, with new data revealing that ICE is arresting more non-criminals than ever.

The number of people who have been deported under the Trump administration is murky; ICE has not disclosed official figures since January, and available immigration court data is not comprehensive, with age not recorded in 13 percent of cases.

But analysis of court data reveals that children have been increasingly, and disproportionately, marked for deportation in recent months.

Under the Trump administration, immigration courts have quickly ramped up deportation rates. Around two thirds (68 percent) of all immigration court proceedings ended in deportation in May, compared to 39 percent in January.

But for children under 11, the removal rate is even higher, at 75 percent in May; and 78 percent for kids under 4 years old, both substantially higher than the 45 percent seen on average for young kids in January.

This suggests that children are being disproportionately targeted for deportations under this administration, overrepresented by 2.3 times more than their proportion of the illegal immigrant population, our analysis shows.

“What we’re seeing right now is basically a grist mill in immigration court, just scooting kids through the process as quickly as possible,” the lawyer, who asked to remain anonymous, told the Independent.

At the same time, children facing immigration court are more vulnerable and less protected than ever.

In spite of this, the Trump administration has been fighting to cancel funding which provides legal aid for unaccompanied immigrant children.

The government first issued a stop-work order in February, and cancelled federal contracts in March. In April the federal district court ordered the Trump administration to restore funding, saying it is congressionally mandated under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (TVPRA).

Legal assistance programs told the Independent that they had since been re-contracted; but remain on “pins and needles” as the government appeals the court ruling, and Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill makes it harder and more expensive to sue against his policies.

Rocket dockets and separating families

In the meantime, children are being put on expedited paths through immigration court, known as “rocket dockets”, according to the immigration lawyer.

Many of these cases are going through in just two weeks from start to finish – which leaves little-to-no room for a child to prepare the necessary documents and arguments.

“Of course, a child is going to file a case that’s not completely fleshed out in all the legal arguments, because they don’t understand the legal argument,” the lawyer told the Independent.

“This is also really damaging for trafficking victims. Kids who have experienced severe trauma need the time to have their nervous system relax, to understand that they’re safe, to share some of the most sensitive details about their cases.”

These tactics evoke the family separation policy, employed in 2018 under the first Trump administration, which forcibly kept parents and children apart when detained at the border – with as many as 1,360 families never reunited, according to Human Rights Watch.

“It is seen as against the due process rights of a child to be systematically separated from their parent or legal guardian,” the lawyer explained.

“What’s clear is that they are sidestepping the legal settlement to protect children from these cruel techniques.”

The Independent is the world’s most free-thinking news brand, providing global news, commentary and analysis for the independently-minded. We have grown a huge, global readership of independently minded individuals, who value our trusted voice and commitment to positive change. Our mission, making change happen, has never been as important as it is today.

Judges are deporting record numbers of young children under Trump
Exclusive: Immigration judges broke records with the number of young children they have ordered removed from the US in April —with lawyers accusing Trump of “pumping up deportation numbers on the backs of kids, data correspondent Alicja Hagopian reports

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-immigration-child-deportation-numbers-b2786626.html

USA Today: Honduran family, 6-year-old with leukemia released from ICE detention

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A 6-year-old Honduran boy with leukemia who had been held in immigration detention with his family since May was released July 2.

The boy, his mother and 9-year-old sister entered the country legally last fall seeking asylum. Federal agents arrested them as they left an immigration hearing in Los Angeles on May 29. They were held in a privately run family detention center in South Texas. Their release was made public July 3, but their future remains unclear.

They never should have been detained in the first place — hope they sue!

Honduran family, 6-year-old with leukemia released from ICE detention
The family is among a growing number of people detained despite entering the country legally during the Biden administration.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/07/03/boy-leukemia-detention-released-lawyers/84465806007

Guardian: Trump drives surge in ICE detentions of those with no criminal record despite stated priorities

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ICE facilities across the US are holding significantly more people than normal capacity

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is continuing to arrest an increasing number of immigrants without any criminal history, according to recent federal government data reviewed by the Guardian, demonstrating a further dramatic surge in this trend.

The latest available data, released by ICE last Friday, appears to contradict Trump administration officials’ frequent assertions that the agency is prioritizing the pursuit of criminals in its immigration enforcement operations.

“Our number one concern is violent criminals,” Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), which houses Ice, said on TV in an interview with PBS last week.

In mid-June, ICE data shows there were more than 11,700 people in immigration detention who had been arrested by ICE despite having no track record of being charged with or convicted of a crime. That represents a staggering 1,271% increase from data released on those in immigration detention immediately before the start of Trump’s second term.

Trump drives surge in Ice detentions of those with no criminal record despite stated priorities
Ice facilities across the US are holding significantly more people than normal capacity

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jun/24/trump-immigrants-ice-arrests