Potential Deportation of Two-Year-Old US Citizen Raises Concerns Over Lack of Adequate Due Process

A federal judge has expressed concerns that a two-year-old US citizen may have been deported to Honduras along with her mother and 11-year-old sister without proper due process. According to court documents, Judge Terry Doughty suspects that the child, identified as VML, was deported without “meaningful process.” The family members were apprehended during a routine appointment at a New Orleans immigration office on 22 April. A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson claimed that the mother wanted to take her children to Honduras with her. The judge emphasized that it is unlawful and unconstitutional to deport US citizens. A hearing is scheduled for 19 May to address the suspicion that the government may have deported a US citizen without proper process. The Department of Homeland Security stated that the parent made the decision to take the child to Honduras. It is common, they added, for parents to want to be removed with their children. The father of the girl had also filed for a temporary transfer of legal authority, but an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent refused to honor the request. In a separate case in Florida, a Cuban woman with a one-year-old and a US citizen husband were detained at a scheduled immigration appointment and flown back to Cuba two days later. Heidy Sánchez, the woman, was still breastfeeding her daughter who suffers from seizures. Her lawyer argued that Ms. Sánchez should have been allowed to remain in the US on humanitarian grounds. Since Donald Trump’s return to the White House, thousands of undocumented immigrants have been detained and his hard-line immigration policies have faced legal challenges. In a high-profile case, the government mistakenly deported El Salvador national Kilmar Ábrego García. Although the government claims he is a member of the MS-13 gang, his lawyer and family deny this. The Supreme Court ruled that the government should facilitate bringing back Mr. Á

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g278yn4d3o