6 days Ago
One mother who was about to be deported was allowed less than two minutes on the phone with her husband to figure out what would become of her 2-year-old U.S. citizen son.
Another mother wasn't allowed to speak with attorneys or family members before she was deported, accompanied by her U.S.-born children, even though Immigration and Customs Enforcement knew one of them had Stage 4 cancer.
Attorneys for the mothers and their children who were sent to Honduras are blasting Trump administration officials, saying the deportations of three U.S. citizen children over the weekend, including the 4-year-old boy who left without access to his cancer medicines, are illegal.
They're pushing back against statements that the families chose for the children to go with their mothers. On Monday, Trump administration border "czar" Tom Homan said the three U.S.
citizen children, all under 10 years old, were placed on deportation flights at their mothers' request. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said the children weren't deported but "went with their mothers," adding that as citizens they could come back if there's someone in the United States who "wants to assume them." But attorneys have provided details they say show that the mothers and their families had little to no chance to make arrangements for their children.
They said ICE ran out the clock on their attempts to help the families make arrangements for the children. Such removals "are happening with a lot of speed," said Sirine Shebaya, executive director of National Immigration Project. "This is very much a situation that really requires an investigation and some kind of accountability," Shebaya said, "because there's no mystery about what was happening.
" Assistant Homeland Security Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in an email that the agency is "confident in our process and procedures," adding that it has documentation that confirms it was the parents' choice for the children to go with them. "We take our..
. Suzanne Gamboa , Carmen Sesin , Julia Ainsley.
