Senator Jon Ossoff, D-GA., Said he demanded answers on reports that the Trump administration prioritizes families instead of focusing on public security threats with regard to the application of immigration.
In A letter to the Kristi Noem internal security secretary On Thursday, Ossoff cited the cases of two immigrant mothers who were recently expelled and separated from their children.
The first woman, Heidy Sánchez, was owned during a routine immigration meeting in April and was expelled in Cuba without her little American-citizen daughter, who has a history of crises and was still breastfed. Sánchez's lawyer, Claudia Cañizares, said to NBC Miami that the woman “had no criminal record”.
Immigration authorities did not comment on the case. The Trump administration said in the previous comments that the prospecting parents had the choice to take their children or not.
The second woman, Yorely Bernal, was expelled in Venezuela in April without her 2 -year -old child, despite her withdrawal alongside her daughter. The toddler was rather placed in police custody and rebounded around three host families Before ending up with his mother in Venezuela.
Trump administration justified separation at the time By alleging that the parents of the girl were affiliated with the Gang Tren in Aragua, although he did not give specific evidence.
“I write with serious concerns concerning the reports of families separating families from the Ministry of Internal Security (DHS)”, reads the letter, which was first obtained by NBC News. “I urge you to restart threats to public security in the application of immigration and to use your discretion to grant a humanitarian conditional release to keep infants and young children in the care of their parents.”
The two cases illustrate the pace of the deportations of immigrants who have no criminal accusations or convictions, even if President Donald Trump declared during his electoral campaign that the emphasis would be placed on the expulsion of violent criminals.
In one case, NBC News reported for the first time in March, a 17-year-old American citizen in a family of mixed immigration statutes was left in the United States when his brothers and sisters, including an 11-year-old American citizen recovering from a rare brain tumor, were sent back to Mexico when the immigration authorities have deported their uncatured parents.
Two mothers expelled in Honduras in April were withdrawn with their children American citizens, including a 4-year-old boy with stadium cancer 4. The children's fathers were in the United States and were unable to make decisions about their children before being aircraft in Honduras, according to Gracie Willis, their lawyer.
“The DHS seems to prioritize those who are closely at hand, including individuals appearing in immigration checks, on surveillance programs or in the wrong place at the wrong time, regardless of their criminal history and sometimes even regardless of their citizenship status,” wrote Ossoff. “The DHS has deployed significant application resources to cruelly separate young children from primary caregivers who are no threat to public security.”
Ossoff cited the American Academy of Pediatrics, which declared the separation of families “can cause irreparable damage, disturb the architecture of a child's brain and affect his health in the short and long term. “”
He also asked Noem's office to provide information by June 6 on the impact that the repression of Trump's immigration has on expelled children, left in the United States or sent abroad with their expelled parents.
In April, the last month for which data is available, the federal immigration authorities expelled more than 17,200 people, an increase of approximately 29% compared to April 2024, when more than 13,300 were expelled.
Last week, 48,674 people in immigration detention were in detention of NBC News. Only a third was sentenced by criminal and approximately a quarter has pending charges which may or may not be maintained before the court.
Expeating more than 17,200 people in a single month still does not put Trump on the right track to compensate for his promise to inaugurate to deport “millions and millions”. It is even less than half of the pace it would take to reach the record number of 430,000 deportations in a single year, established during the Obama administration in 2013.
Carmen Sesin,, Julia Ainsley,, Laura Strickler,, Doha Madani And Suzanne Gamboa contributed.
