Despite the fact that they were American citizens, three children and 4-year-old boy with phase 4 kidney cancer, his 7-year-old sister and a 2-year-old girl-samen with their families were swept by immigration authorities in Louisiana and quickly sent to Honduras, according to a lawsuit that was filed on behalf of the families.
The lawsuit claims that despite the government’s own guidelines, the parents “never got the choice whether their children had to be deported and forbidden to contact their counsel or to have meaningful contact with their families to arrange care for their children.” The mothers, mentioned in the suit as Rosario and Julia, claim that they wanted their children to stay in the US
Instead, the families were “illegally deported without even an apparent process,” says the court case.
Romeo, as the now 5-year-old in the court case is identified, was diagnosed with a “rare and aggressive form of kidney cancer” at the age of 2. He immediately started to receive continuous “critical, life -saving medical treatment” in the US, according to the lawsuit, which was submitted by immigrants Advocacy Group National Immigration Project and three lawyers companies.
“The failure to allow his mother to arrange his care, contrary to Ice’s own guideline, and his illegal deportation to Honduras was involved in his required medical treatment,” said the suit.
The lawsuit was established on July 31 on behalf of the two mothers and their children in the American court for the middle district of Louisiana. The names of the claimants in the lawsuit are pseudonyms to protect their identity and safety, lawyers said. The case against the federal government is at an early stage and claimants are looking for a jury court and compensation, and for their arrests and removals that are found illegally and must be returned to the United States.
“This is emblematic for what happens when the administration is laser-oriented on deportation that when the end result is the only thing that counts, you end up with unlawful and illegal deportations,” Stephanie Alvarez-Jones, a lawyer at the National Immigration Project, told NBC News.
The Ministry of Interior Security said in a statement that American children were not “deported” and denied that the parents were not given a choice with regard to the care of their children before they were sent to Honduras.
“Instead of separating their families, Ice asked the mothers if they wanted to be removed with their children or that they wanted ice cream to make the children safe with someone indicating the parent,” said assistant secretary Tricia McLaughlin. “In this case, the parents made the determination to take their children to Honduras.”
McLaughlin said that when there is an underlying health problem, ICE ensures that the treatment is available in the country to which the illegal alien is removed. The implication that ice would deny a child that the medical care they need is fluently incorrect, and it is an insult to men and women of federal law handling. “
NBC News has previously reported American civilian children are sent with their deported immigrant parents to other countries, including A 10-year-old girl who recovers from a rare brain tumor sent to Mexico.
Rosario and Julia and their children were put on a plane to Honduras on 25 April after they had been held on immigration check-in agreements where they were told to take their American citizen children and their passports, according to the lawsuit.
Both women had settled in the US a few years ago, the lawsuit states. Rosario came to the US in 2013 as a 13-year-old unaccompanied minor. She gave birth to her first child, Ruby, in 2018 in New Orleans, and her second child, Romeo, in 2020.
In the court case, Rosario claims that she did not know that an immigration case was playing against her while she was in the US, she only said she had a removal order that she had taken in ice 10 years after she was admitted to ice during a traffic stop in February.
The mother of two received a single monitor and had check-ins with ice cream both at her home and at their local office, says the suit.
On April 24, Rosario showed up at her immigration-check-in with her lawyer and children, together with their passports, according to the instructions of ICE. At the agreement, Rosario and her children were taken to a back room without their lawyer and told that they would be deported, according to the court case.
ICE would have reportedly asked Rosario to sign a document without telling her what it was and Rosario refused. Agents would have rejected her supplications to talk to her lawyer about the state of Romeo.
Her lawyer then heard that the family had been transferred to a facility in Alexandria, Louisiana, a three -hour drive. The lawyer submitted a stay of removal for Rosario’s family with proof of Romeo’s stage 4 cancer diagnosis.
The family became on board an airplane the next day.
According to the court case, Rosario “explicitly opposed the deportation of its American civilian children and had never given permission for such action. Indeed, in view of the cancer of Romeo and specialized medical needs, Rosario wanted to remain both American civilian children in the United States.”
Just like Rosario, Julia was also denied access to a lawyer when she and her children were held by ICE and deported, says the lawsuit.
Julia arrived for the first time at the American border in 2019 on the flight for Honduras, after her daughter Janelle was kidnapped there, according to the details in the court case. After applying for asylum, they had to wait at the time in Mexico under the policy ‘stay in Mexico’. They said in the court case that they were abducted in Mexico before they could return to the US in August 2021.
Her daughter Jade was born in Louisiana in 2023.
Julia was told in February 2025 that she brought both daughters to her regular IJscheck-Ins, says the court case.
On April 22, Julia, who was now pregnant, lived a check-in with her daughters while her partner was waiting outside. She told her that her family was being transferred to Alexandria and that a judge would determine their fate in the US, according to the court case. Her partner claims that he was told that his family was transferred hours later and he did not have time to talk to Julia.
Later that night Julia was told that she would be deported with her children.
Her lawyer was reportedly told by Ice that Jacob, Julia’s partner and also an immigrant, would also be held if he tried to pick up his daughter Jade, who is an American citizen.
A confrontation between American immigration and customs enforcement agents and protesters took place outside of San Francisco Immigration Court.
While Jacob and the family lawyer fought to temporarily stop the removal of Julia and her children, an ice officer would have said to Julia to write on a piece of paper that her daughter Jade would go to Honduras with her.
“When Julia objected, the officer Julia threatened that Jade would immediately be sent to a foster family in the United States if Julia did not write a note stating that Jade would be deported to Honduras with her,” said the court case, and added that Julia did as subdivided by Dury.
“At any time, Julia offered the opportunity to arrange care for her American civilian daughter Jade in the United States.”
In his statement to NBC News, DHS said that “it takes his responsibility to seriously protect children and will continue to collaborate with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected.” The agency said that parents “can take over the control over their departure” through self -insurance.
Julia and her children were sent to Honduras on April 25 on the same plane as Rosario’s family.
Rosario said in a statement that in Honduras she misses the means to take care of her children as they need.
“Since the return, my daughter has become sick and struggled with fear, and I also struggled with my own health problems,” she said.
Julia said in a statement that she thought she and her children were going to a regular appointment, but she was lied. “I never thought they would send me and my children to Honduras,” she said.
“Returning to Honduras led to leaving my husband behind, and that has been very difficult,” she said. “We were taken from the opportunity to be and make decisions as a family.”
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