Two American citizen children-one 7 years old and 4 years old who suffers from metastatic cancer-were deported with their mother to Honduras on Friday (25) by the US immigration and customs service, according to their lawyer and civil rights and immigration organizations.
The mother was detained after taking her two children to a check-in on Thursday (24) with the intensive care program, from lawyer Erin Hebert to CNN This Sunday (27).
According to Hebert, the mother was asked to bring her two children and her passports to the consultation.
When they arrived, however, Hebert said he was not allowed to accompany the family to the meeting. Shortly thereafter, she was informed that the family had been arrested, but the authorities refused to inform her where they were taken.
Hebert knew later, after talking to his client, that two agents from ICE (immigration and US customs) were waiting for his family at the consultation, she told CNN.
The lawyer contacted authorities of the ICE regional office in New Orleans and filed a suspension of deportation, in an effort to keep the family in the country. But on Friday morning, the family had already been placed on a Honduras plane.
“My clients were deported 24 hours after detention, without access to me,” said Hebert.
The case resembles that of another family: a woman and her 2-year-old son were also deported last Friday, after attending a “routine check-in,” according to an emergency court document.
Together, defenders state that cases emphasize the lack of due process of law.
They defended deportations involving parents and young children in TV appearances on Sunday, stating that American citizen children were not deported, but that parents who were in the country illegally could choose to take their children with them when deported.
