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A federal judge said a two-year-old US citizen may have been deported to Honduras without proper legal process. This happened during the Trump administration’s push for more deportations.
Judge Terry Doughty said there was a “strong suspicion” that the child, known only as VML, was deported “with no meaningful process.”
The child and her family were caught during a regular appointment at a New Orleans immigration office on April 22, according to court documents.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said the mother chose to take her children with her when she was sent to Honduras.
Judge Doughty tried to arrange a phone call with the mother, but a government lawyer said it was not possible because she and VML had already been released in Honduras.
The immigration status of the child’s mother, father, and sister is still unclear. However, the two-year-old is definitely a US citizen.
“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a US citizen,” the judge said.
A hearing is set for May 19 to clear up suspicions that the government deported a US citizen without proper process.
Tricia McLaughlin from Homeland Security said the parent made the choice to take the child to Honduras and added, “It is common that parents want to be removed with their children.”
Earlier this week, the child’s father filed papers to give custody of the children to his sister-in-law, who is a US citizen. But an ICE agent told the family lawyer they would not honor the request and warned that the father could be arrested if he tried to pick up the children.
In another similar case in Florida, a Cuban woman, Heidy Sánchez, was detained at a routine immigration meeting with her US citizen husband and baby daughter. They were flown back to Cuba two days later.
Heidy Sánchez was breastfeeding her daughter, who suffers from seizures. Her lawyer said she was not a criminal and should have stayed in the US for humanitarian reasons.
Since Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, thousands of undocumented immigrants have been detained.
Trump’s immigration policies have faced many legal challenges.
In another major case, the government admitted it wrongly deported Kilmar Ábrego García, a man from El Salvador. They claim he is linked to the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer and family deny. He has never been convicted of a crime.
The Supreme Court ruled that Mr. Ábrego García should be brought back to the US, but the Trump administration said he would “never” live in the US again.
Source: BBC
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