This is a complicated subject, and there have been differing opinions based on the sources reviewed. After reading many articles, it was clear from the debates that there seemed to be conflicting meanings of whether the U.S. government's actions involved the deportation of U.S. citizen children with their undocumented parents as part of their deportation process.
I will try to outline the arguments on both sides. One perspective is reported by PBS News in a story involving three children of U.S. citizenship status, who were deported to Honduras with their undocumented mothers. Laura Barrón-López, the PBS News reporter, stated in the story that two of the children, 7 years old and 4 years old, siblings, were deported within 24 hours of being detained, despite the 7-year-old having late-stage cancer and without her medication. PBS News also reports on a case of a two-year-old girl deported with her mother, three days after being detained. In these two cases, the mothers had reported outstanding removal orders, but it did not seem that they were fully aware. The circumstance is cloudy — it depends on how you define "deportation" and who you think gets to make that ultimate decision. I am looking at it as a group of children born in the U.S. who have citizenship. Taking these kids from their home country, regardless of how it comes about, is a form of deportation. Although the family was compelled to make the choice, the urgency and lack of alternatives would suggest that the choice the parent made was not really “voluntary.” I get DHS's legal position, but I see this as American citizens being taken from their home country.
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