Civil rights leaders were outraged when the United States ordered a 2-year-old child deported from the country. The current United States Presidential Administration under Donald Trump has made a priority of deportation, especially of migrants from Hispanic/Latin countries. The administration’s policies on immigration have stirred up a lot of debate and controversy, with civil rights activists, attorneys, and even the judiciary suing or putting blocks on deportations that are deemed in violation of the Constitution. Still, the deportations are being pushed through. The child’s deportation was just the latest in a string of heartbreaking moments.
Trump Orders Child Deported Despite Citizenship Rights
Part of the controversy surrounding the Trump Administration deportations is that they are often rushed, suspicious, and take away the human’s right to due process afforded under the US Constitution. While the right argues that due process does not apply to non-citizens, the Constitution is written very clearly to apply to all humans who are in the United States. It would already be a challenge to justify deporting a non-citizen child without due process, but in this case, the child was also a citizen.
According to the American Civil Liberties Union and The National Deportation Project, among others, this case and others involving children are a “shocking – although increasingly common – abuse of power.” Lawyers representing the child’s father claim that he wanted his child to stay in the US, while ICE authorities say the mother requested that the child be deported with her back to Honduras, her country of origin. These statements cannot yet be proven, as they were not brought to a hearing before the deportations were executed.
The mother and her 11-year-old migrant daughter, along with the 2-year-old, were arrested on Tuesday, April 22. U.S. District Court Judge Terry Doughty attempted to reach out the the mother on Friday through immigration attorneys, only to find out the family was already left with Honduran officials. Judge Doughty then submitted an order for a hearing on May 16, “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
The day before, the lawyers for the father in the family filed a document with the court, stating that ICE officials were holding the 2-year-old girl as a way to blackmail the father to surrender. Although his legal status is unclear, the father had legally granted custody of his daughters to his sister-in-law, who is a U.S. citizen and lives in Baton Rouge, where the family was residing.
The lawsuit filing states, in part:
“The officer said that V.M.L.’s mother was there, and that they did not have much time to speak to each other, and that they were going to deport his partner and daughters. V.M.L.’s father was able to speak with his partner for only about or less than a minute. He heard his daughters crying and his partner crying.”
“He reminded V.M.L.’s mother that their daughter was a U.S. citizen and could not be deported. The officer overheard and said that V.M.L. would not be deported and explained that V.M.L.’s mother and sister had deportation orders. V.M.L.’s father began to give V.M.L.’s mother the phone number for their attorneys, but before he could, he heard the ICE officer take the phone from her and hang up the call.”
V.M.L. is the name used to reference the two-year-old child deported in official documents. Government lawyers claim that the mother wrote a letter indicating the children would go with her to Honduras. Judge Doughty wrote in his order, though, that “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.”
As stated by MSNBC, “The Trump administration also deported at least two other families that day, according to the American Civil Liberties Union. Two mothers and their young children were deported Friday morning ‘under deeply troubling circumstances that raise serious due process concerns,’ according to the ACLU. One of the mothers is pregnant, the organization said, and three of the children deported are U.S. citizens ages 2, 4, and 7 — one of whom has cancer.”
Final Thoughts
It appears the Trump Administration has another legal battle on its hands in regards to deportation policies. Ordering a 2-year-old child deported without due process, especially one who is a legal U.S. citizen. At this time, it appears the administration will continue to ignore judicial orders are even arrest judges who interfere. However, time will tell how successful this strategy will be, as more and more lawyers and civil rights activists join the growing swell of outrage at the violation of constitutional rights.
