An undocumented Mexican mother, Denisse Parra, was deported along with her three children — two of whom are U.S. citizens — in a case that has sparked outrage and accusations of deception by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Parra and her family were pulled over on May 1 near Dobie High School in Austin due to an expired license plate. Authorities immediately questioned the family’s immigration status, and all five members were detained. While Parra and her children were released shortly after with an ankle monitor, her husband remained in ICE custody.
Days later, Parra and her children arrived for what they believed was an immigration appointment to process an asylum claim and work permit. Instead, they were taken into custody, sent to Laredo, and ultimately deported to Reynosa, Mexico.
“Unfortunately, she believed them. She’s a very vulnerable person and was scared,” said Sulma Franco, Immigration Campaign Manager for Grassroots Leadership.
Family attorney Cori Hash criticized ICE for denying communication with relatives who could have taken custody of the children, saying they were detained for 24 hours before being removed.
A family member told Noticias Telemundo the children, ages 4, 5, and 9, are traumatized and confused.
“They just want to go home and wonder why they’re there,” the relative said.
This case adds to a troubling pattern of U.S. citizen children being deported or detained alongside undocumented parents. In one notable case, a 4-year-old boy with Stage 4 cancer was deported without medication.
Immigration law experts warn that as ICE ramps up deportations while cutting legal proceedings, the risk of mistakenly detaining or deporting U.S. citizens grows.
“Citizenship is not something that we can spot on people’s foreheads,” said Cesar Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, law professor at Ohio State University.
The federal government does not disclose how often U.S. citizens are wrongfully deported, but independent reports estimate at least a dozen well-documented cases.
I have NO sympathy for the mother or children, the adults sneak into the United States just to have their children so they can be citizens is not right. On top of that We the taxpayers foot the bill of the delivery and support of these children until they get into the workforce. If you want your children legal citizens then go through the proper process!