Mom and 3 kids, including 2 citizens, deported to Mexico, TX advocacy group says
A mother and her three children were deported to Mexico after the family's advocates said they were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and taken to Laredo, Texas, an advocacy group said.
Now, family and legal advocates are unable to get in touch with Denisse Parra Vargas and her 8-year-old, 5-year-old and 4-year-old children, the Texas Civil Rights Project said in a May 8 news release.
McClatchy News reached out to ICE on May 8 but did not immediately receive a response.
The two youngest children are U.S. citizens, according to the group. The mother had been in the United States since 2016 to escape domestic violence, advocates said.
The family's interactions with ICE began on April 30 when Parra Vargas and her partner were pulled over in Austin by Texas Highway Patrol in an unmarked vehicle, advocates said.
ICE detained the two as a result of the stop, advocates said, but the mother was released with an ankle monitor so she could get her kids from school.
By May 2, Parra Vargas told an attorney that she was released by ICE, but she was given dates to report to Intensive Supervision Appearance Program check-ins in San Antonio, the group said.
Her partner, however, was still in ICE custody and had a hearing scheduled on May 6 in Pflugerville. But when the family arrived to what they were told was a hearing or appointment, ICE detained them, advocates said.
Legal and community advocates were told the mom and children were taken to a facility in Laredo, but on May 7, they were deported to Mexico, according to the group.
Advocates said they do not know the whereabouts of the family and if they were separated during the deportation process.
The Department of Homeland Security said the mother chose to take her children with her when she was deported, according to a statement posted in X, formerly known as Twitter. Officials said Parra Vargas was issued an order of removal in 2019.
'ICE did not allow for communication with nearby family members who were willing to keep the children and instead detained them for 24 hours in secretive locations before deporting the U.S. citizen children to Mexico. ICE was informed by the family and legal advocates that the children were U.S. citizens and ICE knowingly deported them anyway in violation of their own policies and laws. ICE has no authority to detain or deport U.S. citizens regardless of the status of their parents,' the group said in the news release.
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