ICE agents deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen, something a federal judge Louisiana said could be "illegal and unconstitutional."
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty wrote that "The Government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her. But the Court doesn't know that," NBC News reported.
Doughty noted that the child was a U.S. citizen and that it is "illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a US citizen," the BBC reported.
NBC News reported that the court attempted to contact the child's mother as part of the deportation process to ask her what her intentions were for the child and whether she wanted to make arrangements for the child to stay in the U.S. with other caregivers. However, by then, the plane was in the air and on its way to Honduras.
The woman's attorney, Mich P. González, said the woman was prevented from contacting legal representation or family members by ICE. "ICE is mischaracterizing that this was her wish," González told NBC News. "This woman was held in an undisclosed hotel."
Doughty has scheduled a May 16 hearing on the matter, writing that the hearing was "In the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process."
