Migrant parents are reportedly being told, maybe falsely, they will be reunited with their kids if they volunteer to be deported


Under President Trump's recently amended "zero tolerance" border policy, U.S. border agents separated children from their parents either right away, at massive processing facilities like one in McAllen, Texas, known as "la hielera" (freezer), or on the morning parents were bussed to court to be charged with illegal entry, typically a misdemeanor. "Border officials told parents they'd see their children when they got back from court," The Washington Post reports, adding:
But when they returned, their children were gone, taken to federal shelters. Some parents were told that their children were being taken for a bath, but then the kids did not come back. At a shelter in McAllen, as word spread that children were being pulled from their parents, some mothers and fathers took to sleeping with their legs wrapped around their children so they couldn't be snatched. [The Washington Post]
Detained parents at a facility outside Houston and their lawyers tell The Texas Tribune that U.S. officials are giving them a choice: They will be reunited with their children at the airport if they voluntarily give up their asylum claims and agree to be deported. One Honduran man, "Carlos," said he agreed to be deported "out of desperation" to see his 6-year-old daughter, but now he's trying to get out of his agreement. He said he's spoken to his daughter once since she was taken in late May and "she can't talk, she cries because she's locked up."
Immigration lawyers are skeptical that federal officials could even keep their end of that bargain. Cynthia Milian, a lawyer who has spoken with Carlos, told The Texas Tribune she doubts the feds "would put his child on a plane to get her to where he would get deported out from, especially if she's in Arizona," where Carlos was told she is being kept. "I just don't see that happening." Read more at The Washington Post and The Texas Tribune.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
5 weather-beaten cartoons about the Texas floods
Cartoons Artists take on funding cuts, politicizing tragedy, and more
-
What has the Dalai Lama achieved?
The Explainer Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader has just turned 90, and he has been clarifying his reincarnation plans
-
Europe's heatwave: the new front line of climate change
In the Spotlight How will the continent adapt to 'bearing the brunt of climate change'?
-
Trump set to hit Canada with 35% tariffs
Speed Read The president accused Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney of failing to stop the cross-border flow of fentanyl
-
Mahmoud Khalil files $20M claim over ICE detention
Speed Read This is the 'first damages complaint' brought by an individual targeted by the Trump's administration's 'crackdown' on Gaza war protesters
-
Trump threatens Brazil with 50% tariffs
Speed Read He accused Brazil's current president of leading a 'witch hunt' against far-right former leader Jair Bolsonaro
-
AI scammer fakes Rubio messages to top officials
Speed Read The unknown individual mimicked Rubio in voice and text messages sent to multiple government officials
-
SCOTUS greenlights Trump's federal firings
speed read The Trump administration can conduct mass federal firings without Congress' permission, the Supreme Court ruled
-
New tariffs set on 14 trading partners
Speed Read A new slate of tariffs will begin August 1 on imports from Japan, South Korea, Thailand and more
-
Elon Musk launching 'America Party'
Speed Read The tech mogul promised to form a new political party if Trump's megabill passed Congress
-
Judge blocks Trump's asylum ban at US border
Speed Read The president violated federal law by shutting down the US-Mexico border to asylum seekers, said the ruling