(EDITOR’S NOTE: This story has been updated to indicate dozens of migrants were interviewed in Honduras for the report.)
HARLINGEN, Texas (Border Report) — A new report accuses U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of family separation for deporting migrants to Honduras without their children.
Two nonprofits that recently traveled to Honduras say migrants who are being deported there are arriving without their children, and migrants claim they don’t know where their children are.
The Women’s Refugee Commission, and Physicians for Human Rights, claim that over half of the newly-arrived migrants they spoke with in Honduras said they were not given the option of bringing their children with them.
“Of the parents we spoke to, more than half had been deported without being given an opportunity to bring their children with them. Some of them described that, despite their efforts, they were unable to obtain basic information about their children’s location or care,” according to the report.
This included many long-time residents of the United States, according to the report.
The report also cited that many had explicitly asked to bring their children, or signed paperwork expressing that wish, yet were deported alone.
The nonprofits interviewed dozens of migrants who were deported to Honduras in late November, at a time when over 300 migrants per day were being sent to Honduras from the United States.
“In some cases, we spoke with mothers who arrived in acute distress because they had been unable to speak with their children or the person caring for them. One father, who had been apprehended by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at work while his children were at home with a babysitter, had been able to make a telephone call while in the US to make temporary childcare arrangements. One mother, who had been deported without being given the opportunity to bring her two month-old child, a US citizen, back with her, could talk of little more than her frantic desperation to have her newborn baby back,” the report says.
They also spoke with physicians, psychologists and government officials.
In July, the Trump administration changed policies regarding detained parents, but the new Detained Parents Directive orders “communication with child welfare services and programs, where feasible.”
Border Report has asked DHS if migrants who are deported are given the option to bring family members. This story will be updated if information is received.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@borderreport.com.