TOI correspondent from Washington: America's liberal conscience is being shaken this weekend by the deportation on Friday of three US-born citizens, children of immigrant parents, including a two-year old baby and four-year old child with stage-4 metastatic cancer.
US authorities maintained that the children's mothers, who were undocumented, were being deported to their home country Honduras, and they chose to take the children with them. But a judge, a Trump-appointee, found the process questionable and said there appeared to be no meaningful process to their deportation. He called the move "illegal and unconstitutional."
Lawyers for the families said the two mothers were taken into custody while attending a routine check-in in New Orleans as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which allows individuals to remain in their communities while undergoing immigration proceedings.
In one case, Jenny Carolina Lopez Villela, mother of the two-year old girl and her older sister, is said to have given a handwritten note in Spanish choosing to take them with her even as the children's father, whose immigration status is unclear, was on the phone with her to remind her their younger daughter was a US citizen and not liable for deportation. He was cut off when he was about to give her contact information for lawyers.
In the other case, a 4-year-old child with Stage 4 cancer was deported without medication or means to contact doctors, the family’s lawyer said. It was the second such case prosecuted by the Trump administration after a 10-year-old US citizen with brain cancer was deported to Mexico on February 4 while en route to a medical appointment, due to her parents’ undocumented status.
The family was traveling from Rio Grande City, Texas, to Houston for an emergency medical check-up for the girl, who had undergone brain surgery in 2024 to remove a tumor, when they were detained at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoint in South Texas.
The Trump administration maintains that it does not deport US citizens, but they may choose to accompany family members being deported, and in the case of minor children, family members being deported may take the children with them as part of a policy not to separate families. The MAGA perspective: Trump didn’t deport two-year old American citizen. US provided free transportation to a young child whose custodial mother wanted her daughter to come with her.
But civil liberties lawyers and activists say the families are being rushed out of the country without due process. In the New Orleans case US District Judge Terry Doughty appeared to agree with them. The two mothers and their children were reportedly prevented from communicating fully with their families trying to arrange legal representation, driven to the airport, and put on a flight to Honduras, irking even a Trump-appointee judge.
“The Government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her. But the Court doesn’t know that,” Judge Doughty said, noting that he was unable to verify the mother's consent for the child to accompany her before the deportation.
The case highlighted growing disquiet in the country over the Trump administration's crackdown on not just undocumented immigrants, but even green card and visa holders, including international students, not to speak of bearing down on judges, two of whom have been arrested for purportedly obstructing the deportation of illegal immigrants.
In some cases, homeland security officials in plainclothes have been arresting immigrants without serving warrants, with supporters of such action citing security concerns. New Trump administration policies include reversing Biden-era restrictions on arrests in sensitive locations like hospitals and invoking the Alien Enemies Act for expedited removals.
US authorities maintained that the children's mothers, who were undocumented, were being deported to their home country Honduras, and they chose to take the children with them. But a judge, a Trump-appointee, found the process questionable and said there appeared to be no meaningful process to their deportation. He called the move "illegal and unconstitutional."
Lawyers for the families said the two mothers were taken into custody while attending a routine check-in in New Orleans as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which allows individuals to remain in their communities while undergoing immigration proceedings.
In one case, Jenny Carolina Lopez Villela, mother of the two-year old girl and her older sister, is said to have given a handwritten note in Spanish choosing to take them with her even as the children's father, whose immigration status is unclear, was on the phone with her to remind her their younger daughter was a US citizen and not liable for deportation. He was cut off when he was about to give her contact information for lawyers.
In the other case, a 4-year-old child with Stage 4 cancer was deported without medication or means to contact doctors, the family’s lawyer said. It was the second such case prosecuted by the Trump administration after a 10-year-old US citizen with brain cancer was deported to Mexico on February 4 while en route to a medical appointment, due to her parents’ undocumented status.
The family was traveling from Rio Grande City, Texas, to Houston for an emergency medical check-up for the girl, who had undergone brain surgery in 2024 to remove a tumor, when they were detained at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) checkpoint in South Texas.
The Trump administration maintains that it does not deport US citizens, but they may choose to accompany family members being deported, and in the case of minor children, family members being deported may take the children with them as part of a policy not to separate families. The MAGA perspective: Trump didn’t deport two-year old American citizen. US provided free transportation to a young child whose custodial mother wanted her daughter to come with her.
But civil liberties lawyers and activists say the families are being rushed out of the country without due process. In the New Orleans case US District Judge Terry Doughty appeared to agree with them. The two mothers and their children were reportedly prevented from communicating fully with their families trying to arrange legal representation, driven to the airport, and put on a flight to Honduras, irking even a Trump-appointee judge.
“The Government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her. But the Court doesn’t know that,” Judge Doughty said, noting that he was unable to verify the mother's consent for the child to accompany her before the deportation.
The case highlighted growing disquiet in the country over the Trump administration's crackdown on not just undocumented immigrants, but even green card and visa holders, including international students, not to speak of bearing down on judges, two of whom have been arrested for purportedly obstructing the deportation of illegal immigrants.
In some cases, homeland security officials in plainclothes have been arresting immigrants without serving warrants, with supporters of such action citing security concerns. New Trump administration policies include reversing Biden-era restrictions on arrests in sensitive locations like hospitals and invoking the Alien Enemies Act for expedited removals.
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