In the early hours of Friday morning, three U.S. citizen children from two separate families were deported alongside their mothers by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Among the deported was a four-year-old child suffering from Stage 4 cancer, who, according to the family’s legal representative, was removed without access to necessary medication or the ability to contact healthcare providers.
Both families had been attending routine check-ins in New Orleans under the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which permits individuals to reside within their communities while their immigration cases proceed. Their attorneys report that the families were apprehended during these check-ins, transported approximately three hours away to Alexandria, Louisiana, and subsequently deported to Honduras without the opportunity to communicate with family members or legal counsel.
This incident has reignited serious concerns regarding potential violations of due process rights under the Trump administration’s expedited deportation policies, affecting both citizens and non-citizens alike.
Alanah Odoms, Executive Director of the ACLU of Louisiana, strongly criticized the deportations, stating, “I cannot imagine a more blatant constitutional violation than deporting U.S. citizens without due process — particularly children, including those with severe medical conditions.”
Although the U.S. government has not publicly disclosed the number of U.S. citizens mistakenly detained or deported by ICE, independent investigations have documented numerous such cases since ICE’s establishment in 2003.
An emergency petition was filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Louisiana on behalf of the father of one of the deported children, identified in court filings as V.M.L. Despite the filing, the child was placed on a flight to Honduras the following morning before the court could intervene.
U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty, appointed under the Trump administration, issued a subsequent order expressing grave concern over the deportation, emphasizing that removing U.S. citizens without proper legal procedures is “illegal and unconstitutional.” While the judge scheduled a hearing for May 16 to investigate the deportation, the order did not mandate the child’s return or propose any immediate remedy.
Court records reveal that the child had accompanied her mother and older sister to the immigration appointment earlier that week. Shortly after their arrival, the child’s father received a call informing him that his family was in custody. That evening, he was permitted only a brief one-minute conversation with his partner before communication was cut off by an ICE agent. He had no further contact until after the family had arrived in Honduras.
Attorney Gracie Willis, representing the father, noted that both mothers were detained without the opportunity to consult with co-parents or legal advisors, leaving them to make difficult and deeply personal decisions under uncertain and constrained circumstances.
The Justice Department contended that the father had not sufficiently verified his identity with ICE agents, though the family’s legal team submitted the child’s birth certificate as evidence, which listed both parents’ names and confirmed her U.S. birth in Baton Rouge.
Importantly, government officials are not disputing the children’s U.S. citizenship. Instead, they argue that the deportations were conducted based on the mothers’ stated desire to have their children accompany them. As evidence, Justice Department lawyers submitted a note purportedly written by one of the mothers affirming her choice to take her child to Honduras.
However, Willis emphasized that ICE’s prevention of legal consultation made it impossible to ascertain whether consent was freely given or made under pressure. “We simply do not know if the mothers truly consented to the deportations of their children or if they were coerced without full understanding of their options,” Willis stated.
Source: News Reports
