US citizen children deported with their mothers, lawyers say

Questions are being raised about the recent deportations of three children who are U.S. citizens, along with their Honduran-born mothers. 

US citizen children deported

What we know:

The three children, ages 2, 4 and 7, are U.S. citizens and were deported in recent days along with their Honduran-born mothers, their lawyers said over the weekend. 

Lawyers said the women were arrested at routine check-ins at Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices, and were virtually given no opportunity to speak with lawyers or their family members, and were then deported within three days or less. 

A statement from the ACLU of Louisiana said the families were deported in the early hours of the morning on Friday, April 25, from the New Orleans ICE field office. 

One of the families included a U.S. citizen child diagnosed with a rare form of metastatic cancer, who was deported without medication or the ability to consult with their doctor, the ACLU statement said. 

Additionally, one of the mothers who was deported is pregnant and was not provided continuity of prenatal care or medical oversight.

What we don't know:

It's not known why the women were arrested or how long they had been living in the United States, though the ACLU said both had lived in the United States for years and had deep ties to their communities.

Dig deeper:

The 4-year-old — who has the rare form of cancer — and the 7-year-old were deported to Honduras within a day of being arrested with their mother, Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project told The Associated Press. 

In the case involving the 2-year-old, a federal judge in Louisiana raised questions about the deportation of the girl, saying the government did not prove it had done so properly.

What's next:

A May 16 hearing is scheduled concerning the 2-year-old’s case, requested by Louisiana U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty "in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process," he wrote.

What they're saying:

The American Civil Liberties Union, National Immigration Project and several other allied groups said in a statement that the way ICE deported children who are U.S. citizens and their mothers is a "shocking — although increasingly common — abuse of power."

The other side:

President Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said Monday during a White House press briefing that the three kids weren’t deported, and said their mothers made the decision for the children to depart with them. 

"If you choose to have a U.S. citizen child knowing you're in this country illegally, you put yourself in that position. You put your family in that position. What we did is remove children with their mothers who requested the children depart with them. This is a parenting decision, parental 101. The mothers made that choice," he said.

"I tell you what, if we didn't do it? The story today would be the Trump administration is separating families again. No, we're keeping families together. So when a parent says, ‘I want my 2-year-old baby to go with me, we made that happen. They weren't deported. We don't deport you as citizens."

Tampa woman deported to Cuba

Meanwhile:

In Florida, a Cuban-born mother of a 1-year-old girl was deported last week — separating them indefinitely. 

The wife of a U.S. citizen, she was detailed at a scheduled check-in appointment and held without any communication and flown to Cuba two days later, her lawyer told The Associated Press. 

RELATED: DEA raids Colorado underground nightclub, 100 immigrants detained

Trump’s immigration crackdown

Big picture view:

The three cases come amid a battle in federal courts over whether President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown has gone too far and too quickly at the expense of fundamental rights.

The backstory:

During his second stint as U.S. president, Donald Trump’s unprecedented campaign of immigration enforcement has pushed the limits of executive power, and he has clashed with federal judges trying to restrain him. 

The crackdown has included detaining more than 1,000 international college students, some of whom have seen their legal status restored, at least temporarily. The policies have slowed immigration at the southern border to a relative trickle.

RELATED: Supreme Court blocks Trump deportations under Alien Enemies Act, for now

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