ICE sent 3 U.S. citizen children, including boy with cancer, to Honduras with their deported moms
Three American citizen children — including a 5-year-old boy with Stage 4 kidney cancer — were deported to Honduras along with their undocumented mothers after ICE detained the families at routine immigration check-in appointments in Louisiana, according to a lawsuit filed by immigrant advocacy groups. The suit alleges the mothers were denied access to attorneys, were not meaningfully given the choice to leave their U.S. citizen children behind, and were deported without due process — in one case, a mother says she was threatened that her toddler would be sent to foster care if she didn't sign a document consenting to the child's deportation. ICE ignored a stay of removal that included evidence of the boy's cancer diagnosis and his need for ongoing medical treatment in the U.S. The Department of Homeland Security disputes the families' accounts, claiming the mothers chose to take their children with them, but attorneys say the case is emblematic of an enforcement culture so focused on deportation numbers that it is producing unlawful removals of American citizens, including gravely ill children.