Trump administration‘s border chief Tom Homan aggressively defended the deportation of a two-year-old American citizen to Honduras on Sunday, rejecting a federal judge’s fear of illegal removal and asserting, “We don’t deport US citizens.”
The confrontation occurred after Louisiana Judge Terry Doughty threatened to trigger there was a “strong suspicion” the government had deported an American child citizen “with no meaningful process.” The two-year-old child was deported along with her deported mother and 11-year-old sister.
Showing up on Face the Nation, Homan dismissed the alarm, insisting, “The two-year-old went with the mom. The mom signed the paper saying, ‘I want my two-year-old to go with me.’ That’s a parent’s decision, it’s not a government decision. This is parenting 101.”
Doughty had tried to set up an emergency call with the mother Friday, but Justice Department attorneys told her it wasn’t possible. The child’s father made a hasty trip to court to try to transfer custody to an American-based relative.
Pressed, Homan stood firm, “There was due process.” He contended the mother had immigration hearings “at great taxpayer expense” before an immigration judge determined she should be deported.
Court records indicate the two-year-old was among three American children sent back last week, including a four-year-old child said to have Stage 4 cancer. Homan disavowed that case but stuck with the government line: “Having a US citizen child after you enter this country illegally is not a get out of jail free card.”
The episode occurs as the Trump administration speeds up contentious deportations under the 18th-century Alien Enemies Act, a move that has precipitated intense court fights. Recently, more than 230 immigrants were deported to El Salvador in direct disobedience to court rulings, and the Supreme Court temporarily blocked deportations last week from a Texas detention center.
Mocking the administration’s position, Homan added, “That’s on you, not on this administration.”
