Tag Archives: National Immigration Project

The Hill: Mass deportation effort sweeps up U.S. citizen children with deported parents

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The Trump administration is coming under scrutiny for deporting several U.S. citizen children along with their foreign-born parents.

Trump officials have defended the move, saying the minors were not deported, rather the parents have elected to take them along rather than be separated from their children.

But attorneys for the families involved in such cases say their clients were given little notice and forced to make split-second decisions about what to do with children born in the United States.

Rep. Seth Magaziner (D-R.I.), has been in contact with attorneys for several families, including a Honduran woman with two U.S. citizen children, including a 4-year-old with stage 4 cancer.

“At no time did the mother offer any consent. At no time did the mother sign anything. Also, the mother was not given the opportunity to speak with legal counsel, even though the lawyer was in the same building at the time,” Magaziner told The Hill.

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And then there’s the case of two Mexican parents living in Texas who were deported along with five of their six children after being stopped at a border checkpoint.

The family was en route to Houston for emergency treatment for their 10-year-old, U.S. citizen daughter who had recently had a brain tumor removed.

The Hernandez family, using a pseudonym to protect their privacy, pleaded while in custody for staff to look at documentation from the hospital requesting permission to travel.

Instead, they spent the night in custody before being taken to a bridge and turned over to Mexican authorities in an area rife with kidnappings. The family has since gone into hiding in rural Mexico.

Mass deportation effort sweeps up U.S. citizen children with deported parents

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5326444-trump-administration-deporting-us-citizen-children

Associated Press: Family of 2-year-old US citizen deported to Honduras drops lawsuit against Trump administration

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A federal judge in Louisiana had raised questions about the girl’s deportation, saying the government did not prove it had done so properly.

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Lawyers for the girl’s father insisted he wanted the girl to remain with him in the U.S., while ICE said the mother had wanted the girl to be deported with her to Honduras.

In a court filing, lawyers for the father said ICE indicated that it was holding the girl in a bid to induce the father to turn himself in.

ICE holding a two-year-old girl hostage for leverage against her father? Nothing would surprise me.

Family of 2-year-old US citizen deported to Honduras drops lawsuit against Trump administration
Lawyers for the 2-year-old U.S. citizen who was deported with her mother to Honduras confirmed that the family is lifting its lawsuit against the administration of U.S.

https://apnews.com/article/honduras-deported-child-lawsuit-dropped-d15e3cfa8d44f8eca9c87cb640f92422

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

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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.

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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.

ICE Deports 3 U.S. Citizen Children Held Incommunicado Prior to the Deportation | American Civil Liberties Union
Families disappeared and isolated without legal access; one child with cancer deported without medication and pregnant mother deported as well
ICE Deports 3 U.S. Citizen Children Held Incommunicado Prior to the Deportation