Introduction to the Deportation of Immigrant Mothers
Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents have in recent days deported the Cuban-born mother of a 1-year-old girl — separating them indefinitely — and three children ages 2, 4 and 7 who are U.S. citizens along with their Honduran-born mothers, their lawyers said Saturday.
The three cases raise questions about who is being deported, and why, and come amid a battle in federal courts over whether President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown has gone too far and too quickly at the expense of fundamental rights.
The Deportation Process
Lawyers in the cases described how the women were arrested at routine check-ins at ICE offices, given virtually no opportunity to speak with lawyers or their family members and then deported within three days or less.
The American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Project and several other allied groups said in a statement that the way ICE deported children who are U.S. citizens and their mothers is a “shocking — although increasingly common — abuse of power.”
Lack of Fair Opportunity
Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project said the mothers, at the very least, did not have a fair opportunity to decide whether they wanted the children to stay in the United States.
The 4-year-old — who is suffering from a rare form of cancer — and the 7-year-old were deported to Honduras within a day of being arrested with their mother, Willis said.
Case of the 2-Year-Old
In the case involving the 2-year-old, a federal judge in Louisiana raised questions about the deportation of the girl, saying the government did not prove it had done so properly.
Lawyers for the girl’s father insisted he wanted the girl to remain with him in the U.S., while ICE contended the mother had wanted the girl to be deported with her to Honduras, claims that weren’t fully vetted by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana.
Doughty in a Friday order scheduled 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," he wrote.
Details of the 2-Year-Old’s Case
The Honduran-born mother — who is pregnant — was arrested Tuesday on an outstanding deportation order along with the 2-year-old girl and her 11-year-old Honduran-born sister during a check-in appointment at an ICE office in New Orleans, lawyers said. The family lived in Baton Rouge.
Doughty called government lawyers on Friday to speak to the woman while she was in the air on a deportation plane, only to be called back less than an hour later and told that a conversation was impossible because she “had just been released in Honduras.”
In a Thursday court filing, lawyers for the father said ICE indicated that it was holding the 2-year-old girl in a bid to induce the father to turn himself in. His lawyers did not describe his immigration status, but said he has legally delegated the custody of his daughters to his sister-in-law, a U.S. citizen who also lives in Baton Rouge.
Cuban-born Woman Deported
Cuban-born woman is deported, leaving behind child and husband
In Florida, meanwhile, a Cuban-born woman who is the mother of a 1-year-old girl and the wife of a U.S. citizen was detained at a scheduled check-in appointment at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Tampa, her lawyer said Saturday.
Heidy Sánchez was held without any communication and flown to Cuba two days later. She is still breastfeeding her daughter, who suffers from seizures, her lawyer, Claudia Cañizares, said.
Cañizares said she tried to file paperwork with ICE to contest the deportation Thursday morning but ICE refused to accept it, saying Sánchez was already gone, although Cañizares said she doesn’t think that was true.
Sánchez’s Case
Cañizares said she told ICE that she was planning to reopen Sánchez’ case to help her remain in the U.S. legally, but ICE told her that Sánchez can pursue the case while she’s in Cuba.
“I think they’re following orders that they need to remove a certain amount of people by day and they don’t care, honestly,” Cañizares said.
Sánchez is not a criminal and has a strong case on humanitarian grounds for allowing her to stay in the U.S., Cañizares said, but ICE isn’t taking that into consideration when it has to meet what the lawyer said were deportation benchmarks.
Sánchez had an outstanding deportation order stemming from a missed hearing in 2019, for which she was detained for nine months, Cañizares said. Cuba apparently refused to accept Sanchez back at the time, so Sanchez was released in 2020 and ordered to maintain a regular schedule of check-ins with ICE, Cañizares said.
Conclusion
The deportation of these immigrant mothers and their U.S. citizen children raises serious concerns about the fairness and humanity of the U.S. immigration system. The lack of opportunity for the mothers to make decisions about their children’s futures and the haste with which they were deported are particularly troubling. As the battle over immigration policy continues in federal courts, it is essential to consider the impact of these policies on families and children.
FAQs
Q: Who were deported in these cases?
A: The Cuban-born mother of a 1-year-old girl, and three children ages 2, 4, and 7 who are U.S. citizens, along with their Honduran-born mothers.
Q: Why were they deported?
A: The reasons for their deportation are not fully clear, but it appears to be part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Q: What is the status of the 2-year-old girl’s case?
A: A federal judge in Louisiana has raised questions about the deportation of the girl and has scheduled a hearing to investigate further.
Q: What is the situation with Heidy Sánchez, the Cuban-born woman?
A: She was detained and deported to Cuba, leaving behind her 1-year-old daughter and husband, and is still breastfeeding her daughter who suffers from seizures.
