How ICE blocked mothers from securing custody of US citizen children
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Isolated, unheard, and rushed onto planes: Two immigrant mothers deported under Trump reveal the hidden trauma of family separation policies that left US citizen children powerless.
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The Bluebonnet Detention Center is shown on Thursday, April 24, 2025, in Anson, Texas (AP)
Two mothers deported to Honduras alongside their US citizen children were held in "complete isolation" and denied any opportunity to coordinate the care and custody of their children before being placed on a deportation flight, according to Gracie Willis, an attorney with the National Immigration Project, as reported by The Guardian.
The mothers were unable to contact attorneys or loved ones and were not offered the option to transfer custody of their citizen children to another parent or caregiver.
"Here we had moms held completely in isolation, being told what was happening to their children. They didn’t have an opportunity to talk this through, to weigh the pros and cons of taking or leaving their children in the US," Willis said.
Denied the chance to arrange custody
One mother, deported with her seven-year-old and four-year-old children, was unable to access medications and necessary care for her youngest, who is battling a rare form of late-stage cancer.
Another woman, who is pregnant, was deported with her 11-year-old and two-year-old daughters, despite efforts by the children’s father and a designated caretaker to intervene. "She’s in the early stages of a pregnancy and has undergone unimaginable stress," Willis said, describing the dangers faced by the family.
Both families were detained during routine Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) check-in appointments in New Orleans, transported far from the city, and prevented from communicating with family members.
Health risks and family separation
Each year, hundreds of thousands of immigrant parents with both a deportation order and US citizen children must decide whether to leave their children in the United States under the care of relatives or guardians or surrender them to Child Protective Services.
However, Willis emphasized that the mothers in these cases were not empowered to make real decisions regarding their families' futures. "There were no real decisions being made here, especially when those parents were not able to communicate with other available caregivers," she said.
Lawyers for VML, a two-year-old US citizen identified in court documents by her initials, filed an emergency motion to prevent her deportation. A federal district judge expressed a "strong suspicion that the government just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process."
A hearing in VML's case has been scheduled for 18 May. Meanwhile, the Trump administration maintains that the cases were handled legally and with due process.
Tom Homan, Trump’s former border czar, stated, "The children aren’t deported. The mother chose to take the children with her."
Secretary of State Marco Rubio echoed Homan during an interview, suggesting, "I imagine those three US citizen children have fathers here in the United States. They can stay with their father. That’s up to their family to decide where the children go."
Government defends deportation practices
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to inquiries, as per the report. However, Willis noted that VML’s father had been trying to retrieve his daughter before the deportation occurred.
On April 22, VML’s mother brought her children to a scheduled ICE check-in. After an unusually long delay, the father learned that his partner and daughters had been detained. Attempts to communicate with them were brief and abruptly ended, preventing the family from arranging alternative custody.
The government claimed that a handwritten letter, allegedly written by the mother, indicated her consent to take her child to Honduras. However, the family's lawyers dispute the validity of that letter, arguing that genuine consent was impossible without proper communication and legal counsel.
Growing concern over ICE deportation abuses
Before their deportation, both families had been regularly complying with ICE orders.VML's mother had initially arrived at the southern US border during the "Remain in Mexico" program. After facing violence and kidnapping in Mexico, she returned to the United States and was released under the condition of regular check-ins.
The other woman deported with her children had previously entered the United States as an unaccompanied minor and received deportation orders after failing to appear at a hearing she was unaware of, due to not receiving a summons, according to Willis.
The cases have drawn widespread condemnation from civil rights organizations and lawmakers, highlighting the persistent concerns over ICE deportation abuses, family separation under Trump, and immigrant families' rights violations.
