6-Year-Old Boy With Leukemia Arrested By ICE Outside SoCal Courtroom Misses Medical Treatment

LOS ANGELES, CA — A Honduran woman is suing the Trump administration after Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested her and her two children, including one undergoing treatment for leukemia, outside a Los Angeles immigration courtroom this week.

The woman, who was not named in court documents, filed a petition for writs of habeas corpus after she and her family were taken to a Texas facility, the Los Angeles Times reported. She is also requesting a preliminary injunction that would prevent her family’s immediate deportation to Honduras.

The mother and her children, ages 9 and 6, were taken into custody on May 29 after she brought them to the immigration court to continue a case for asylum after they fled Honduras because of threats of violence, according to Texas Public Radio. Instead, her case was dismissed as ICE agents waited for them outside the courtroom.

"There were men waiting for them in civilian clothing. The [ICE agents] detained the family for many hours, and it was a terrifying time for the two children and their mother," Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, told Texas Public Radio.

The family was then taken to Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where they have been detained for several weeks, reports said.

According to a KTLA report, the woman's youngest child was diagnosed in Honduras with acute lymphoblastic leukemia when he was 3. He has since undergone two of the required two-and-a-half years of treatment. He missed a scheduled medical appointment on June 5 due to his detainment.

The woman and her children are now facing two removal proceedings concurrently, a previous removal proceeding involving their asylum request and a new expedited removal process, reports said.

The family was granted legal entry to the United States during the Biden administration.

In her lawsuit, the woman claims the federal government violated her family's rights, including the due process clause of the 5th Amendment, according to the LA Times. The lawsuit seeks the family's immediate release.

The family's arrest came amid stepped-up immigration enforcement operations across the Southland, generally being carried out by armed federal agents wearing face-covering masks, civilian clothing and no badges or identification as law enforcement officers. They generally wear bullet-proof vests that say "Police," "ICE" or the name of other agencies.

Federal officials have insisted that the agents wear masks to protect themselves and their families from attacks by protesters objecting to the enforcement operations. But critics have assailed the practice, saying it invites criminal activity by law-enforcement imposters.

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City News Service contributed to this report.