The Administration denies the deportation of three American children: "The deported mothers chose to take them with them"

The government came out in droves to deny reports that it had deported three underage U.S. nationals. Senior officials claimed that those expelled, through due process, had been the mothers. They themselves had decided to take their U.S.-born children with them.

The spark of the controversy was an article in the Washington Post that claimed that three children, ages 2, 4 and 7, had been "swiftly" deported from Louisiana. From two separate families, the Post stated that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported them to Honduras in the early hours of Friday.

An attorney for one of the families, quoted in the Post article, asserted that the 4-year-old had advanced, stage 4 cancer and had been removed from the country without medication or the ability to contact her doctors.

Gracie Willis, legal representative for the father of the 2-year-old girl, identified in court documents as V.M.L., filed an emergency petition requesting her release. The minor, she claims, was deported before court opened.

Magistrate Terry A. Doughty held, hours after the deportation, that the child could have been deported without her father's consent and that it was illegal to deport a U.S. citizen. He set a hearing for May 16.

The Administration had countered the accusations in court, claiming that the undocumented mothers of the children had been the target of the deportations. They, they claimed, had asked to be accompanied by their children. Judge Doughty said he had no way of verifying the veracity of the claim at this time.

"It's the parents' decision"

The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, countered the government's judicial defense to the press. "Their mothers, who were illegally in this country, were deported. The children went with their mothers," Rubio stated on Meet the Press. It was, he remarked, the mothers' choice.

The secretary added that as Americans, the deported children can return to the country if their parents or guardians so wish. He then branded the news as "misleading," "you guys make it sound like ICE agents kicked down the door and grabbed the 2-year-old and threw him on an airplane." "That's misleading, that's just not true."

Border czar Tom Homan also defended ICE's actions. While acknowledging he did not know the details of the 4-year-old's case, he said no U.S. minors had been deported. "We dont deport US citizens." "Childern aren't deported, the mother chose to take the children with them."

"When you enter the country illegally, and you know you are here illegally, and you choose to have a us citizen child, thats on you," he added. He also pointed out that having a U.S. child was not a "get out of jail free card" or immunity, and that to indicate otherwise was sending the wrong message to the rest of the world.

On the 2-year-old, he asserted, contrary to the assertion of the Face The Nation reporter, that due process had indeed been carried out, "at great taxpayer expense." The mothers, he noted, had signed a document asking to take them with them: It's the parent's decision, "not a Government decision." At the moment, this document has not been made public.

Due process is one of the key issues in the debate over the Administration's deportations. Especially regarding the alleged members of the Tren de Aragua, which the Supreme Court ruled could be removed from the country through emergency powers as long as due process was guaranteed. The same Supreme then stopped the deportation of 50 Venezuelans.