A 6-year-old Honduran boy with leukemia has been in immigration detention with his mother and 9-year-old sister since May when federal agents arrested them as they left an immigration hearing.
The Honduran family entered the country legally last fall seeking asylum. Lawyers fear their deportation is imminent and are suing for their release, worried about the boy’s health.
Leukemia in children requires consistent treatment over a period of years to provide a good shot at long-term survival. That care would be disrupted, the family’s lawyer says, if the family is sent back to Honduras.
“This is a family that did everything right,” Elora Mukherjee, a lawyer for the family and director of Columbia Law School’s Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, said. The family, who isn’t identified in court records due to threats they face in Honduras, hasn’t been accused of crimes anywhere, she said. “To subject this family — with a 6-year-old who has a leukemia diagnosis — to arrest and detention is illegal, unconstitutional and unconscionable.”
Arrested after case dismissed
A DHS spokesperson said in a June 28 statement that most migrants who entered the country within the last two years, while Joe Biden was president, are subject to expedited removal.
The Honduran family entered the United States in October through the CBP One App, which allowed migrants to apply for asylum screening interviews at the border, according to court filings. President Donald Trump’s administration repurposed the app for migrants to leave the country.
The family lived with the children’s grandmother in the Los Angeles area, where they attended school and church, filings said. The boy, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 3, had, most recently, been undergoing two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy. He has about half a year of treatment left.
Biden-era policies limited civil immigration enforcement in courthouses, among other sensitive locations.
Soon after Trump took office, senior administration officials rescinded the policy, allowing agents to detain people, including family members, for civil immigration violations at courthouses. A May 27 Immigration and Customs Enforcement memorandum removed language about agents needing to abide by local or state laws, lawyers for the family said.
Different approach: ICE agents deploy new tactic: arresting people as they leave mandatory court hearings
Two days after the May 27 memo, the Honduran family attended a regular removal hearing at the Van Nuys Boulevard Immigration Court in Los Angeles. They were told to bring the entire family on May 29, said family lawyer Kate Gibson Kumar, of the legal advocacy organization Texas Civil Rights Project.
At the hearing, government lawyers moved to dismiss removal proceedings against the family, which would have allowed them to stay in the United States until their case is resolved. Family lawyers said the mother pleaded not to have the case dismissed, but the immigration judge approved the motion.
Immediately afterward, agents arrested them in the hallway outside.
Dismissing then detaining
Mukherjee, a Columbia Law professor, said DHS lawyers and immigration judges, who are part of the Justice Department’s Executive Office for Immigration Review, have coordinated their efforts to remove migrants from the country. Since May, she said judges have quickly dismissed migrants’ cases enabling ICE to detain them as they leave the courtroom or building.
The advocacy group American Immigration Lawyers Association told the USA TODAY Network that its members have noticed some judges receive information beforehand from DHS lawyers about which deportation cases they plan to ask judges to dismiss. Immigration judges face repercussions for not cooperating, the association said.
The family was held for hours in the courthouse and at an ICE processing center, Mukherjee said. While at the processing center for around 11 hours, the boy got scared when he saw an agent’s gun. The boy apparently peed on himself, and then was required to sit in his wet clothing for hours.
Officials later flew the family to Texas, where the three have been held for more than a month at the South Texas Family Residential Center. The privately run detention facility recently reopened after being closed during the Biden administration.
Since arriving in Texas, the mother said her son has lost his appetite and looks pale. He bruises easily and suffers occasional bone pain. These are recognized symptoms of leukemia, lawyers said.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary of public affairs at DHS, said the family chose to appeal their case, and will remain in ICE custody until the case is resolved. But through that time, the boy has received appropriate care.
“The implication that ICE would deny a child the medical care they need is flatly FALSE, and it is an insult to the men and women of federal law enforcement,” she said in a statement.
In a letter submitted to the court, Dr. Pran Saha, a Columbia University professor of pediatrics, said the boy’s medical records show he needs ongoing treatment with radiation and chemotherapy.
Eduardo Cuevas is based in New York City. Reach him by email at emcuevas1@usatoday.com or on Signal at emcuevas.01.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Boy with leukemia held in immigration detention
