Secretary of State Marco Rubio disputed alleged “misleading” reports Sunday about three U.S. citizen children boarding deportation flights.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported the illegal immigrant mothers of U.S. citizen children ages 7, 4 and 2, sparking outrage among pro-immigration and anti-Trump activists. Rubio told NBC News’ “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker that the administration deported the mothers who entered the U.S. illegally from Honduras, and not the children.
“On the headline, that’s a misleading headline,” Rubio said. “Three U.S. citizens ages 4, 7 and 2 were not deported. Their mothers who were illegally in this country were deported. The children went with their mothers. The children are U.S. citizens, they can come back into the United States if their father, or someone here, wants to assume them. But, ultimately who was deported was their mothers who were here illegally. The children just went with their mothers. It’s not like, 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.”
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Several outlets, including The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Guardian and NPR all published headlines stating that the administration deported the U.S. citizens. A family lawyer said that the 4-year-old child, who reportedly has Stage 4 cancer, boarded the plane without medication or the ability to contact a doctor, according to The Washington Post.
Rubio said that if President Donald Trump’s administration had forced the children to stay in the U.S., the media would accused them of holding young children “hostage.” He clarified that the children are allowed to remain in the U.S. given their citizenship status.
“If someone is in this country unlawfully, illegally, that person gets deported,” Rubio continued. “If that person is with a 2-year-old child or has a 2-year-old child says ‘I want to take my child with me,’ well then you have two choices. You can say, ‘yes, of course you can take your child whether they’re a citizen or not because it’s your child,’ or you can say, ‘yes, you can go. But your child must stay behind.’ And then your headlines would read, ‘U.S. holding hostage [a] 2-year-old, 4-year-old, 7-year-old, while mother deported.’ So, the parents make that choice.”
Some Democrats and left-wing pundits have expressed fear that the Trump administration may deport U.S. citizens, which would be a blatant violation of the U.S. Constitution. The 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution guaranteescitizenship to all individuals born on U.S. soil, which cannot be revoked.
Trump signed an executive order on Jan. 20, his first day in office, ending birthright citizenship for children born to illegal immigrants with only temporary legal status. After a federal judge struck down the order, the case was then brought to the U.S. Supreme Court, which is slated to deliberate the legality of the executive order.
Democrats have accused the administration of violating the rule of law by allegedly deporting certain illegal immigrants without due process. Four congressional Democrats, along with Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, traveled to El Salvador to meet with alleged MS-13 gang member Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported back to his native country in March.
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