Secretary of State Marco Rubio Defends Deportation of U.S. Citizen Children, Sparks Outrage

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has come under fire for defending the deportation of three U.S. citizen children to Honduras, arguing that their mothers could have left their children behind. Speaking on Meet the Press on Sunday, Rubio stated, “These children are U.S. citizens. They can come back to the U.S. if their father or someone here wants to take them in. But ultimately, it was their mothers, who were here illegally, who were deported. The children just went with their mothers.”

The children, aged 2, 4, and 7, were deported early Friday alongside their mothers, who were detained during routine check-ins as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) in New Orleans. The program is designed to allow individuals to remain in the community during their immigration proceedings. The families were later transferred to Alexandria, Louisiana, and put on a flight to Honduras, with no communication allowed with their relatives.

Rubio’s defense comes amid mounting criticism of the deportation, which has raised concerns about the violation of due process rights for both U.S. citizens and noncitizens. When questioned on Meet the Press about whether such deportations violated these rights, Rubio dismissed the question, simply stating, “If someone’s in this country unlawfully, illegally, that person gets deported.”

Tom Homan, former acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Trump’s former border czar, also defended the actions, stating on Face the Nation that the children were not deported but rather that “the mother chose to take the children with her.” Homan continued, “When you enter the country illegally, and you know you’re here illegally and you choose to have a U.S. citizen child, that’s on you. That’s not on this administration.”

However, legal experts and advocates for immigrants have expressed outrage at the decision, saying that the deportation violates the constitutional rights of U.S. citizen children. Gracie Willis of the National Immigration Project told The Associated Press, “We have no idea what ICE was telling them, but what has come to light is that ICE didn’t give them another alternative. They didn’t give them a choice, that these mothers only had the option to take their children with them despite loving caregivers being available in the United States to keep them here.”

A federal judge has raised concerns that the deportations may have violated the constitutional rights of the children, particularly in cases where alternative caregivers in the U.S. were available.

This incident has reignited a national debate over the Trump administration's immigration policies, with critics arguing that these policies place U.S. citizen children in harm’s way by deporting them along with their undocumented parents. Proponents of the policies, however, maintain that illegal immigration must be addressed, and that those who enter the country unlawfully should face consequences.

As the controversy continues, it remains to be seen how the administration will respond to growing calls for accountability and reform in its immigration practices.

This article was reported by journalist Jimmy.