U.S. Citizen Children Deported to Mexico with Mother Amid Due Process Concerns
Two U.S. citizen children, along with their mother, were deported to Mexico after being detained near Dobie Middle School in Austin. The family was stopped by Texas DPS troopers, with the father detained and later deported. Attorneys are raising alarms around due process concerns and the impact of deportations on U.S. citizen children.
AUSTIN — In a troubling incident, two children, both U.S. citizens, were deported to Mexico alongside their mother earlier this week, as confirmed by an attorney involved in the family’s case. Cori Hash, a senior attorney with the Immigrant Legal Resource Center, reported that the family was detained last week near Dobie Middle School in North Austin. The Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) troopers apprehended the family on April 30, with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detaining the father while the mother was instructed to report to an ICE facility in San Antonio the following day.
The family is not married, but they have lived together for years and share three children, aged 8, 5, and 4. As reported by Hash, the two youngest are U.S. citizens, and the father was deported on Tuesday, while the mother along with all three children faced deportation the next morning. Hash emphasized the need for anonymity for the family to prevent jeopardizing their safety and well-being.
She remarked, “They had no due process whatsoever. It just goes to show that this administration feels that it can deport U.S. citizens whenever it wishes and however it wishes.” The Dallas Morning News was unable to immediately verify the citizenship status of the children. However, during an interview with the Mexican Consulate in Austin, the father stated that his two youngest children were born in the U.S., according to Carlos Enrique Gonzalez Echevarria, the consulate’s protection department director.
Attempts to reach spokespeople from the Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and DPS for comments following this incident went unanswered. This situation raises serious concerns, particularly in light of previous allegations against President Donald Trump’s administration regarding the deportation of U.S. citizens as part of a wider initiative to ramp up deportations. Just last month, the American Civil Liberties Union reported that three U.S. citizen children were also deported to Honduras, including a 4-year-old battling cancer.
Following the ACLU’s accusations, the DHS released a statement indicating that the mothers had chosen to deport with their children. Hash pointed out that while there were family members able to care for the children, communication was hindered once the parents were in custody. This has led to criticisms about the lack of consideration from ICE regarding parents’ abilities to make arrangements for their children.
Michelle Lapointe, who serves as the legal director for the American Immigration Council, expressed concerns about the lack of options for parents in these situations. “The result is that you’re essentially exiling a U.S. citizen to a country that they don’t necessarily know or have any connection to when you’re not allowing parents to make arrangements for their children to remain,” she explained during a phone interview.
Upon the father’s detention, the mother traveled to San Antonio on May 2, receiving an ankle monitor before being instructed to visit another ICE facility in Pflugerville. Hash narrated that during this time, she was on a call with the mother when the ICE agents directed her inside, leading to the subsequent detention of her and her three children. The family was ultimately deported to Reynosa, a city just across the border from McAllen, Texas, on Wednesday morning.
This event highlights ongoing debates regarding immigration policy and the implications of deportations on families, particularly U.S. citizen children caught in increasingly complex and distressing circumstances.
The deportation of two U.S. citizen children and their mother to Mexico has sparked significant concern regarding due process and treatment under current immigration policies. Attorney Cori Hash has condemned the lack of procedures that led to this situation, emphasizing how the family was unwittingly exiled. Observers are calling for a reevaluation of policies that endanger U.S. citizen children’s rights and well-being, calling attention to the broader implications of such incidents on familial stability.
Original Source: www.dallasnews.com
