ACLU: ICE Deports 3 U.S. Citizen Children Held Incommunicado Prior to the Deportation

Families disappeared and isolated without legal access; one child with cancer deported without medication and pregnant mother deported as well

Today, in the early hours of the morning, the New Orleans Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Field Office deported at least two families, including two mothers and their minor children – three of whom are U.S. citizen children aged 2, 4, and 7. One of the mothers is currently pregnant. The families, who had lived in the United States for years and had deep ties to their communities, were deported from the U.S. under deeply troubling circumstances that raise serious due process concerns.

ICE detained the first family on Tuesday, April 22, and the second family on Thursday, April 24. In both cases, ICE held the families incommunicado, refusing or failing to respond to multiple attempts by attorneys and family members to contact them. In one instance, a mother was granted less than one minute on the phone before the call was abruptly terminated when her spouse tried to provide legal counsel’s phone number.

As a result, the families were completely isolated during critical moments when decisions were being made about the welfare of their minor children. This included decisions with serious implications for the health, safety, and legal rights of the children involved–without any opportunity to coordinate with caretakers or consult with legal representatives.

Both families have possible immigration relief, but because ICE denied them access to their attorneys, legal counsel was unable to assist and advise them in time. With one family, government attorneys had assured legal counsel that a legal call would be arranged within 24-48 hours, as well as a call with a family member. Instead, just after close of business and after courts closed for the day, ICE suddenly reversed course and informed counsel that the family would be deported at 6am the next morning–before the court reopened.

Rolling Stone: Trump Attacks the Supreme Court, Says America ‘Cannot Give Everyone a Trial’

Due process is an option in King Donald’s world, and the King apparently gets to choose your option:

Donald Trump slammed the Supreme Court on Monday after the justices temporarily blocked him from deporting Venezuelan immigrants, while asserting that America “cannot give everyone a trial” – a bedrock constitutional right. 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-attacks-the-supreme-court-says-america-cannot-give-everyone-a-trial/ar-AA1Dlm8p

Updated: Another family snatched off the streets of New York City, witness abused

27 March 2025 5:28 P.M.

I was just detained by and my dog was assaulted by plainclothed ICE agents, along with undercover members of the NYPD I believe; while trying to intervene in an ICE abduction on my block.

They refused to identify themselves, were masked, produced no signed warrant, and they were in an unmarked van.

They literally snatched a family walking their kids home from school off the street, and then kicked my dog and cuffed me and my neighbors for asking questions.

They illegally went through my phone, violated multiple Constitutional rights, and then sped off with a family and screaming kids in the back of a van to God knows where.

If this can happen on a corner in Harlem at 5:30 in the afternoon, we are in big trouble guys.

Protect yourselves and your neighbors anyway you know how.

I am absolutely heartbroken, enraged, and disgusted at what my country has become and if you aren’t also; you either aren’t paying attention or you are part of the problem.

EDITED TO ADD: Since this is getting shared around I thought I’d make abundantly clear my takeaway from this experience. It’s this:

Black and brown people in this country have been subjected to this same type of violence and lawlessness for centuries; with often far worse outcomes than I experienced.

The fact the oppressors in power are now willing to also inflict it against a white man of privilege in broad daylight, in the supposed bastion of progressive values that is NYC; only shows how brazen they have become and how dangerous it must be for everyone else not as privileged as I.

White people MUST stand in the way of fascism at every turn. We MUST put our bodies and our privilege on the line. We MUST be wrenches in the gears of this horrible machine we helped create. We don’t have much time left.

*Also videos of the incident are incoming! I got nothing of substance before losing possession of my phone, but I know some neighbors did.

*Update 3/29/25 1:46pm EST: woah this post has completely reached way beyond anything I thought possible or anticipated. It gives me some hope. 1. All your messages and friend requests are really appreciated and beautiful, but I have thousands it’s impossible to add you all or reply to you all, but please organize and connect in your communities!

2. Pictures and video, I know many are asking! I was able to get some videos some folks on my block took, as well as still shots some of those closer to me were able to get.

With how huge this post has become, I’m still trying to figure out the best way to responsibly release them while protecting the identities of vulnerable neighbors, visible addresses and identifying locations, personal info etc. as this took place right outside my building.

I’m being advised that I might have exposed myself a little too much on here, so I’m trying to protect myself some. Still, these pictures and videos have been given to some “ICE-watch” groups, the ACLU and other organizations I trust and who are advising me.

I obviously understand “pics or it didn’t happen” and how important it is to verify authenticity for many reasons. Please bear with me as I’m navigating this all suddenly going viral and how to balance my moral duty to report, speak-out, and share with my own personal safety, freedom, and livelihood and that of others involved.

Please keep an eye out in your own neighborhoods, continue speaking out, and do what you can to stop these things when you see it, and livestream immediately! I really wish I had!

I believe enough white bodies and live cameras might have atleast made these guys think twice and might possibly have stopped this family’s abduction. I know enough of ALL THE PEOPLE, organized, loud and in the streets can hopefully start to reverse the deadly course we are on. All must act according to their skill and comfort level, but all must act! Silence is complicity!

https://www.facebook.com/dkw646/posts/690828030173705

Civil rights groups denounce that 48 ICE detainees have been ‘forcibly disappeared’

19 March 2025

In the first week of March, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted an “enhanced enforcement operation” in New Mexico that resulted in the arrest of 48 people, as reported by the agency itself. Their names, whereabouts, whether they have access to counsel and which agency is holding them are all unknown, according to the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which considers them to have been “forcibly disappeared.”

“This is not just a procedural issue, but a grave human rights violation,” said Rebecca Sheff, senior staff attorney at the ACLU of New Mexico. “When the government detains people and then their whereabouts are unknown and they are unreachable, it exempts them from the protection of the law. Families are left in agonizing uncertainty, desperate to contact their loved ones and ensure their safety. Enforced disappearances are prohibited by both our Constitution and international human rights laws,” she said.

“We are alarmed and disturbed that these four dozen New Mexican individuals remain unidentified and that insufficient transparency, oversight, and accountability has taken place to date regarding their whereabouts and wellbeing. We call on your offices to exercise the full extent of your authorities to determine their current status and ensure their safety,” the complaint states.

Civil rights groups denounce that 48 ICE detainees have been ‘forcibly disappeared’ | U.S. | EL PAÍS English

Associated Press: US prepares to deport about 300 alleged gang members to El Salvador

Due process? Why bother? El Salvador’s government knows how to lock people up without fair trials. Just leave it to them!

President Donald Trump’s administration will pay El Salvador $6 million to imprison for one year about 300 alleged members of the Venezuelan Tren de Aragua gang, in one of the first instances of the Central American country taking migrants from the United States.

The agreement follows discussions between El Salvador’s President, Nayib Bukele, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio about housing migrants in El Salvador’s notorious prison. Bukele’s government has arrested more than 84,000 people, sometimes without due process, since 2022 as part of his crackdown on gang violence in the small country.

US prepares to send about 300 alleged gang members to El Salvador | AP News

Chicago Sun-Times: Immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen and created warrants after an arrest, lawyers say in court

Chicago attorneys with the National Immigrant Justice Center and the ACLU of Illinois accused the federal government of violating immigration law and the constitutional rights of at least 22 people who were arrested and detained in the Midwest since President Donald Trump’s inauguration as part of his crackdown on immigration.

Two people are still in custody, 19 were released on bond and one has already been deported.

Attorneys say these actions violate the Nava Settlement — a 2018 class-action lawsuit filed in response to unlawful arrests by ICE agents who used traffic stops and other tactics to make arrests without a warrant. Under the agreement, ICE officials can conduct a warrantless arrest if they believe an individual is likely to escape, but they must provide evidence. In the motion filed Thursday in federal court in Chicago, attorneys said federal agents since January had “failed to assess whether there was probable cause that an individual was likely to flee before a warrant could be issued.”

Immigration agents arrested a U.S. citizen and created warrants after an arrest, lawyers say in court – Chicago Sun-Times

Trump’s assault on DEI must be stopped. Diversity makes us strong, not weak | Editorial

In the month since President Trump signed an executive order eliminating diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the federal level, cancellations and rollbacks of DEI programs continue to mount.

The order has given private sector companies hollow excuses and political cover for pulling back on DEI. Ironically, these were some of the same companies that rushed to create DEI offices after the murder of George Floyd during the first Trump administration.

The intent of DEI programs is to bring fairness and inclusion to the workplace through diverse voices, especially those of women, veterans and people of color. We don’t see that as being a bad thing.

Trump’s assault on DEI must be stopped. Diversity makes us strong, not weak | Editorial – nj.com