Three U.S. Children Deported, Ages 2, 4, and 7, from Louisiana to Honduras

Early Friday morning, three U.S. citizen children from two different families were deported by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The children were deported with their mothers. One of the children deported is only 4 years old and has stage 4 cancer. The family’s lawyer says the child was deported without medication and without the ability to reach the child’s doctor. The children were taken into custody after attending a routine check-in as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program.

Children Deported To Honduras

“I don’t know how much more of a blatant or clear constitutional violation there can be than deporting U.S. citizens without due process,” said Alanah Odoms, the executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana. “Especially with some of those citizens being the most vulnerable of all vulnerable, children, and not just any children, children with medical conditions that are dire.”

The family’s attorneys say that the children deported were moved to Alexandria, Louisiana, a three-hour drive from where they were living in New Orleans. Once in Alexandria, they were not allowed to speak with their families or their attorneys. The children were then put on a flight to Honduras.

Father Seeking Daughter’s Release

The father of the 2-year-old U.S. citizen was seeking his daughter’s release. Before the court opened that day, the child had been put on a plane to Honduras. Trump appointee U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty issued an order just hours after the deportations, expressing his concern that the girl had been deported against his father’s wishes. He stressed that it was “illegal and unconstitutional” to deport U.S. citizens.

Hearing Set For Children Deported

Hours after the deportation, U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, a Trump appointee, issued an order expressing his concern that the girl. “The government contends that this is all OK because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” Doughty said. “But the court doesn’t know that.” A May 16 hearing has been set to investigate Doughty’s “strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”

Children Deported After Appointment

The Washington Post reports that the court filings show that the girl, her mother, and her 11-year-old sister had gone together to the immigration appointment in New Orleans on Tuesday. The father then received a phone call informing him that his family had been taken into custody. The father spoke to the mother by phone for just one minute. An ICE agent hung up the phone.

“Both of these mothers were held without the ability to speak with their co-parents and the guardians of their children while making this incredibly personal and difficult assessment about what was best for their children,” said Gracie Willis, the lawyer for the father of the 2-year-old.

Lawyers for the Justice Department are claiming that the 2-year-old’s father failed to prove his identity and that he was hesitant about questions about his immigration status. The father provided his daughter’s birth certificate listing both the mother’s and father’s names and showing the child was born in Baton Rouge.

Government Not Disputing Status

A government official says the government is not disputing the immigration status of the three children. They claim the children’s mothers decided to take citizen children with them to Honduras.

Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, told the Washington Post that “it is common that parents want to be removed with their children.” Willis says that ICE’s refusal to allow the mothers to talk to their attorneys means there is no way to prove this is true in this case.

“We have absolutely no idea whether they ever actually did give consent for their children to come with them or, if they did, under what kind of duress and what other options were presented to them,” Willis said.