GOOD NEWS
JIM VERTUNO
Thu, July 3, 2025
Immigration advocates protest recent detentions by ICE outside the immigration court in San Antonio, Texas, Tuesday, July 1, 2025. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A mother and her two young children from Honduras who had filed what was believed to be the first lawsuit involving children challenging the Trump administration's policy on immigrant arrests at courthouses have been released from detention, civil rights groups and attorneys for the family said Thursday.
The lawsuit filed on behalf of the mother identified as “Ms. Z,” her 6-year-old son and her 9-year-old daughter, said they were arrested outside the courtroom after an immigration court hearing in Los Angeles. They had been held for weeks in the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas. Their identities have not been released because of concerns for their safety.
The lawsuit said that the family entered the U.S. legally using a Biden-era appointment app and that their arrest violated their Fourth Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizure and their Fifth Amendment right to due process.
The family's lawyers said the boy had also recently undergone chemotherapy treatment for leukemia and his mother feared his health was declining while in detention.
The family was released late Wednesday while their lawsuit was still pending, and they went to a shelter in South Texas before they plan to return to their lives in the Los Angeles area, said Columbia Law School professor Elora Mukherjee, one of the lawyers representing the family.
“They will go back to their lives, to church, and school, and the family will continue to pursue their asylum case. And hopefully the little boy will get the medical attention he needs,” Mukherjee said. “They never should have been arrested and detained in the first place. We are grateful they have been released.”
Department of Homeland Security officials did not immediately respond to an email request for comment. Last week, the agency posted on social media that the boy “has been seen regularly by medical personnel since arriving at the Dilley facility.”
Starting in May, the country has seen large-scale arrests in which asylum-seekers appearing at routine hearings have been arrested outside courtrooms as part of the White House’s mass deportation effort. In many cases, a judge will grant a government lawyer’s request to dismiss deportation proceedings and then U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will arrest the person and place them on “expedited removal,” a fast track to deportation.
Lawyers for the “Z” family said their lawsuit was the first one filed on behalf of children to challenge the ICE courthouse arrest policy.
There have been other similar lawsuits, including in New York, where a federal judge ruled last month that federal immigration authorities can’t make civil arrests at the state’s courthouses or arrest anyone going there for a proceeding.
“The Z family’s release demonstrates the power we have when we fight back against harmful, un-American policies," said Kate Gibson Kumar, staff attorney for the Beyond Borders Program of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
The family’s lawyers have said that during their hearing before a judge, the mother said they wished to continue their cases for asylum. Homeland Security moved to dismiss their cases, and the judge immediately granted that motion.
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When they stepped out of the courtroom, they found men in civilian clothing believed to be ICE agents who arrested the family, Mukherjee said. They spent about 11 hours at an immigrant processing center in Los Angeles and were each only given an apple, a small packet of cookies, a juice box and water.
At one point, an officer near the boy lifted his shirt, revealing his gun. The boy urinated on himself and was left in wet clothing until the next morning, Mukherjee said.
Eduardo Cuevas,
USA TODAY
Thu, July 3, 2025
A 6-year-old Honduran boy with leukemia who had been held in immigration detention with his family since May was released July 2.
The boy, his mother and 9-year-old sister entered the country legally last fall seeking asylum. Federal agents arrested them as they left an immigration hearing in Los Angeles on May 29. They were held in a privately run family detention center in South Texas. Their release was made public July 3, but their future remains unclear.
Lawyers for the family sued for their release, arguing their detention violated their constitutional rights of due process and unreasonable seizure. The lawyers feared that, since leukemia in children requires consistent treatment, the boy’s care would be disrupted if they were deported to Honduras or detained for too long.
Migrants who followed Biden's rules no longer welcome, Trump says
The family's situation is similar to many immigrants who arrived during the Biden administration, following the rules at the time and not violating any laws. Recently, though, the Trump administration has decided that most of them should not be in the United States, and has been detaining a growing number of migrants as they show up to mandatory court hearings.
“Can ICE snatch law-abiding people out of their communities at courthouses when those individuals are doing exactly what the government required of them?” said Elora Mukherjee, a lawyer for the family and director of the Columbia Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.
Thu, July 3, 2025
A 6-year-old Honduran boy with leukemia who had been held in immigration detention with his family since May was released July 2.
The boy, his mother and 9-year-old sister entered the country legally last fall seeking asylum. Federal agents arrested them as they left an immigration hearing in Los Angeles on May 29. They were held in a privately run family detention center in South Texas. Their release was made public July 3, but their future remains unclear.
Lawyers for the family sued for their release, arguing their detention violated their constitutional rights of due process and unreasonable seizure. The lawyers feared that, since leukemia in children requires consistent treatment, the boy’s care would be disrupted if they were deported to Honduras or detained for too long.
Migrants who followed Biden's rules no longer welcome, Trump says
The family's situation is similar to many immigrants who arrived during the Biden administration, following the rules at the time and not violating any laws. Recently, though, the Trump administration has decided that most of them should not be in the United States, and has been detaining a growing number of migrants as they show up to mandatory court hearings.
“Can ICE snatch law-abiding people out of their communities at courthouses when those individuals are doing exactly what the government required of them?” said Elora Mukherjee, a lawyer for the family and director of the Columbia Law School Immigrants’ Rights Clinic.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents look over lists of names and their hearing times and locations inside the Federal Plaza courthouse before making arrests on June 27, 2025, in New York.More
Neither Immigration and Customs Enforcement nor the Department of Homeland Security immediately responded to an emailed request for comment.
The family entered the United States in October through the CBP One App, which allowed migrants to apply for asylum screening interviews at the border, according to court filings. President Donald Trump's administration repurposed the app for migrants to leave the country.
A DHS spokesperson said in a June 28 statement that most migrants who entered the country within the last two years, while Joe Biden was president, are subject to expedited removal.
Cancer diagnosis and danger back home
The family drew national media attention, especially given the child’s cancer, which lawyers say still requires treatment. Their names haven't been released due to threats they face in Honduras.
The boy, diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia at age 3, had most recently been undergoing two-and-a-half years of chemotherapy. He has about half a year of treatment left.
The family was released along the U.S.-Mexico border, hours from where they were held near San Antonio, at the South Texas Family Residential Center, according to a spokesperson for the Texas Civil Rights Project, a legal advocacy organization representing the family in court.
As of July 3, they were staying in a shelter awaiting a way to return to Los Angeles, where they were living with a relative before their arrest. The family is also seeking to get the boy medical care, Mukherjee said.
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