"She Never Gave Them Permission"

Monday, April 28, 2025

Last Friday, April 25, 2025, “in the early hours of the morning, the New Orleans ICE Field Office deported at least two families, including two mothers and their minor children – three of whom are U.S. citizen children aged 2, 4, and 7. One of the mothers is currently pregnant. The families, who had lived in the United States for years and had deep ties to their communities, were deported from the U.S. under deeply troubling circumstances that raise serious due process concerns.

ICE detained the first family on Tuesday, April 22, and the second family on Thursday, April 24. In both cases, ICE held the families incommunicado, refusing or failing to respond to multiple attempts by attorneys and family members to contact them. In one instance, a mother was granted less than one minute on the phone before the call was abruptly terminated when her spouse tried to provide legal counsel’s phone number.

As a result, the families were completely isolated during critical moments when decisions were being made about the welfare of their minor children. This included decisions with serious implications for the health, safety, and legal rights of the children involved–without any opportunity to coordinate with caretakers or consult with legal representatives.

These actions stand in direct violation of ICE’s own written and informal directives, which mandate coordination for the care of minor children with willing caretakers–regardless of immigration status–when deportations are being carried out.

Both families have possible immigration relief, but because ICE denied them access to their attorneys, legal counsel was unable to assist and advise them in time. With one family, government attorneys had assured legal counsel that a legal call would be arranged within 24-48 hours, as well as a call with a family member. Instead, just after close of business and after courts closed for the day, ICE suddenly reversed course and informed counsel that the family would be deported at 6am the next morning–before the court reopened.

That family filed a habeas corpus petition and motion for a temporary restraining order, which was never ruled on because of their rapid early-morning deportation.

In the case of the other family, a U.S. citizen child suffering from a rare form of metastatic cancer was deported without medication or the ability to consult with their treating physicians–despite ICE being notified in advance of the child’s urgent medical needs. In addition, one of the mothers who was deported is pregnant, and ICE proceeded with her deportation without ensuring any continuity of prenatal care or medical oversight.

These actions represent a shocking–although increasingly common–abuse of power. NOLA ICE has inflicted harm and jeopardized the lives and health of vulnerable children and a pregnant woman. The cruelty and deliberate denial of legal and medical access are not only unlawful, but inhumane.” - NIPNLG, Apr. 25, 2025.

The federal judge handling the habeas case, Terry A. Doughty, was not pleased: “In the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process, IT IS ORDERED that the matter be set for hearing at 9:00 a.m. on May 16, 2025, at the Monroe Federal Courthouse, 201 Jackson St, Monroe, LA, 71201. MONROE, LOUISIANA, this 25th day of April, 2025.”

The feds claim that the mom consented to the deportation of her American daughter.

But my friend and former colleague Erin Hebert (who represents a different family) is dubious: “She was told she was being deported with her children and she asked ‘Why my children?’” … They refused to answer her. They gave her no options, no ability to make arrangements. She never signed anything. She never gave them permission. She never indicated that she wanted them to come with her.” “Mich Gonzalez, who works at Sanctuary of the South, is one of the attorneys for V.M.L’s mother. “Both mothers have clearly communicated that they felt under extreme duress in this situation, that ICE essentially coerced them into accepting this deportation with their children,” says Gonzalez. “Both have stated that ICE repeatedly denied their requests, for a phone call, for a legal process, requests to speak to a judge, request to speak to anyone via phone call, including family members or potentially lawyers.” - Rolling Stone, Apr. 28, 2025.

IN OTHER NEWS:

• Former US Attorney and Deputy Assistant Attorney General Harry Litman opines on the courthouse arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan: “So the case is fairly weak, and the FBI overreached. It's not the first time that's happened, and it's not unique to the Trump administration. Of far greater concern is the unprofessional and corrupt political exploitation of the charges by FBI Director Kash Patel and Attorney General Pam Bondi. … Treating Judge Dugan like a violent, dangerous criminal was obviously designed to score broader political points about the Administration’s wholesale deportations initiative. Patel decided to humiliate Judge Dugan for a sensational headline and to strike fear into the hearts of other judges. That not only contravened DOJ guidelines; it was bush and cowboyish. … For any prosecutor, state or federal, Bondi’s trashing of a just-charged defendant was breathtaking. In this and multiple other instances in her short tenure – her speech introducing the President at the DOJ particularly jumps to my mind – she has appalled DOJ veterans of all stripes and eras. She is a disgrace to her office.”

• “Federal law enforcement agents can arrest Venezuelan nationals in the US suspected of belonging to the Tren de Aragua gang without judicial or administrative warrants, according to a directive from Attorney General Pam Bondi.” - Alicia A. Caldwell, Bloomberg, Apr. 25, 2025.

• “How the Trump Administration Flipped on Kilmar Abrego Garcia; Officials were developing a plan to get him back to the United States. Why did they stop?” - Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, Apr. 25, 2025. “U.S. officials initially sought to resolve Abrego Garcia’s case quietly and ensure his safety through the conventional diplomatic channels they’ve used in other cases involving a mistaken deportation. This time, though, their efforts were abruptly halted. … The White House’s evolving position fit the pattern of Trump’s second term, in which his administration has responded to mistakes by shrugging them off and refusing to take corrective action.”

• “The Justice Department’s move last week to fire at least eight immigration judges, including four from California, is raising fears among Democratic leaders, academics and others that the Trump administration is chipping away at due process protections for immigrants. “These firings made no sense,” said Matt Biggs, president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, the union representing the nation’s 700 immigration judges. “When you do the simple math, each judge does 500 to 700 cases a year. Most of them are deportation cases. So what he’s effectively done is he’s increased the already huge backlog that the immigration courts face.” The Executive Office for Immigration Review, or EOIR, which runs the immigration court system, fired at least two dozen more immigration judges and supervising judges in February, including five from California courts, according to the judges union. The administration also eliminated five in leadership positions at the EOIR and removed nine Board of Immigration Appeals judges appointed under President Biden.” - Rachel Uranga, L.A. Times, Apr. 23, 2025.

• Government Admits It Had No Warrant for Mahmoud Khalil When Agents Took Him - “In filings in the case of Mahmoud Khalil submitted to immigration court yesterday and federal court today, the Trump administration admitted he was taken without any kind of warrant and made new, false claims that Mr. Khalil had refused to cooperate with ICE agents and told them he was going to leave the scene to justify the agents’ actions. The government’s new version of events is contradicted by previous descriptions and video taken by his wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, who was eight months pregnant at the time. Said Marc Van Der Hout of Van Der Hout, LLP, who is representing Mr. Khalil along with his partner Johnny Sinodis, “In DHS' filing in immigration court this week, we learned for the first time that the DHS agents who arrested Mahmoud lied to him: they wrote in their arrest report that the agents told him that they had an arrest warrant, but DHS has now admitted in their filing that that was a lie and that there was no warrant at all at the time of the arrest. The government's admission is astounding, and it is completely outrageous that they tried to assert to the immigration judge – and the world – in their initial filing of the arrest report that there was an arrest warrant when there was none. This is egregious conduct by DHS that should require under the law termination of these proceedings, and we hope that the immigration court will so rule.” - CCR, Apr. 24, 2025.

That’s more than enough for today. THANK YOU! to all subscribers, free and paid. Comments always welcome.

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