Court documents reveal that a two-year-old U.S. citizen, identified as "V.M.L.," was deported to Honduras on Friday along with her Honduran-born mother and sister after they were detained earlier in the week by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (
ICE) officials.
According to filings, the child—born in New Orleans in 2023, as shown by a redacted U.S. birth certificate submitted to the court—had accompanied her mother and sister to a routine immigration check-in at ICE's New Orleans office on Tuesday, where all three were detained and scheduled for deportation.
Upon learning of his family's detention, V.M.L.'s father contacted ICE through his lawyer to inform them that his daughter was a U.S. citizen and could not legally be deported.
"Around 7:30 p.m. the same day, V.M.L.'s father received a call from an ICE officer, who spoke to him for about a minute," a court filing states. "The officer said that V.M.L.'s mother was there, and that they did not have much time to speak to each other and that they were going to deport his partner and daughters."
In an effort to halt the deportation of the two daughters, the father Tuesday filed for a temporary transfer of legal custody, which under Louisiana law would give his sister-in-law, a U.S. citizen who resides in Baton Rouge, custody of both.
On Thursday, an attorney for a family friend—who had been given provisional custody of the child—filed a request for a temporary restraining order, urging the court to immediately release V.M.L. arguing she was suffering "irreparable harm" while detained.
In response, Justice Department lawyers argued that it was in the child's best interest to remain in her mother's legal custody and dismissed concerns about her status, writing, "V.M.L. is not prohibited from entering the United States."
Trump administration officials told the court that the mother had informed ICE officials she wished to take V.M.L. with her to Honduras, submitting a handwritten Spanish-language note they claimed confirmed her intent.
