SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — A lawsuit has been filed in the Middle District of Louisiana accusing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement of unlawfully deporting three U.S. citizen children, including a 4-year-old with stage-four kidney cancer.
According to the legal action, the children’s deportations happened in April alongside their non-citizen parents, “without due process, parental consent, or access to legal counsel.”
The 39-page lawsuit, filed Thursday by multiple plaintiffs under pseudonyms for their protection, alleges that ICE agents in Louisiana detained the families during routine immigration check-ins, denied them contact with lawyers and family, and then placed both children and adults on flights to Honduras.
ICE is accused of deporting one of the siblings, a 4-year-old who was undergoing life-saving cancer treatment at New Orleans Children’s Hospital, “depriving him of medical care for weeks.”
The suit goes on to allege the boy’s mother had no opportunity to explain his condition or arrange for continued treatment in the U.S.
ICE agents reportedly also denied family members access to legal counsel, barred contact with the children’s father, and failed to allow arrangements for lawful custody in the U.S.
The complaint claims that despite knowing the children were citizens, agents ignored federal directives requiring detained parents be given the opportunity to coordinate care or request reunification before removal.
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