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Has Your Opinion On Trump's Mass Deportations Changed?
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The American Civil Liberties Union of Louisiana said the families had lived in the U.S. for years, establishing deep roots in their communities. But Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained them earlier last week and kept them incommunicado, ignoring frantic attempts by attorneys and family members to reach them.
They were deported on Friday, April 25, the group said. Both families were sent to Honduras.
The first family was detained early last week, and the second was arrested on Thursday, according to The Washington Post. They were taken into custody during routine, scheduled check-ins with immigration officials in New Orleans.
The ACLU said the mothers and children had legal pathways to remain in the country but were denied their rights.
“Once again, the government has used deceptive tactics to deny people their rights. These outrageous actions must be condemned. We as a nation are better than this,” said Alanah Odoms, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana. “These families deserve better. They must be returned.”
The 2-year-old girl's deportation on Friday made national headlines after a Trump-appointed judge said he feared the country had "just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process," according to The New York Times.
Immigration experts criticized President Donald Trump's administration for punishing families who were complying with ICE's rules and expressed fear for the future.
“A government agency that sequesters and deports vulnerable mothers with their U.S. citizen children without due process must be defunded, not rewarded with an additional $45 billion to continue at taxpayers’ expense,” Mich P. Gonzalez, founding partner of Sanctuary of the South, told Rolling Stone. “These families were lawfully complying with ICE’s orders, and for this, they suffered cruel and traumatic separation. If this is what the Trump administration is orchestrating just three months in, we should all be terrified of what the next four years will bring.”
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