Family Drops Lawsuit Over Deportation of US-Born Child to Honduras

By Staff, Agencies

The family of a 2-year-old US citizen deported to Honduras with her mother has withdrawn its lawsuit against the administration of US President Donald Trump, according to the family’s legal team.

Lawyers for the girl, one of three US-born children deported alongside their Honduran mothers, announced Tuesday that the family decided to drop the case.

The child’s deportation had become a focal point in a series of legal challenges questioning whether Trump-era immigration policies violated federal law.

“Given the traumatizing experiences the families have been through, they are taking a step back to have full discussions about all their options, the safety and well-being of their children, and the best ways to proceed so the harms they have suffered can be fully addressed,” said attorney Gracie Willis.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union, the National Immigration Project, and other allied organizations, which described the deportations as a “shocking — although increasingly common — abuse of power.”

Willis and other attorneys argued the families were not given a fair chance to choose whether their US-born children should remain in the country.

Willis said the decision to dismiss the case was made jointly to allow the family “space and time to consider all the options that are available to them.”

A federal judge in Louisiana had questioned the legality of the girl’s deportation, noting the government failed to demonstrate that proper procedures were followed.

According to the legal team, the girl, her pregnant mother, and her 11-year-old sister — all of Honduran origin except the 2-year-old — were detained in April during a check-in at an ICE office in New Orleans.

The family had been living in Baton Rouge prior to the arrest. Lawyers representing the girl’s father stated he wanted his daughter to stay in the United States. ICE maintained the mother requested her daughter accompany her to Honduras.

In court filings, attorneys for the father alleged ICE had used the child’s custody as leverage to compel him to surrender.

US District Judge Terry Doughty had scheduled a hearing for later this week, saying it was “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process.”