In a shocking violation of constitutional rights that has ignited fury across the political spectrum, the Trump administration forcibly deported a 2-year-old American citizen to Honduras this week—ripping the toddler from her father’s custody without due process and bundling her onto a government flight under cover of bureaucratic darkness.
The child, identified in court documents only as V.M.L., was swept up by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents during a routine check-in with her Honduran mother in New Orleans.
Despite her father’s frantic legal petition—filed just one day before her removal—federal officials ignored his pleas, ignored the law, and ignored the fact that no U.S. citizen can legally be deported.
The deportation was so egregious that even Trump-appointed federal judge Terry A. Doughty—a conservative jurist—condemned the administration’s actions in a blistering order Friday.
“The government contends that this is all OK because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” Judge Doughty wrote. “But the court doesn’t know that… It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport a U.S. citizen.”
“The government contends that this is all OK because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” wrote Judge Doughty, a conservative Trump appointee. “But the court doesn’t know that.”
Asserting that “it is illegal and unconstitutional to deport” a U.S. citizen, Judge Doughty scheduled a May 16 hearing to explore his “strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
Yet by the time Doughty attempted to intervene, the toddler and her mother were already 30,000 feet over the Gulf of Mexico, en route to Honduras.
The Justice Department later confirmed the child had been dumped on foreign soil—an act that legal scholars say amounts to government-sanctioned kidnapping.
The father, whose name remains sealed in court filings, had begged ICE officials to recognize his daughter’s citizenship. In a heart-wrenching phone call with the mother, he reminded her that their child was American and could not be expelled. But ICE agents cut the call short, refusing to allow legal intervention.
By the time lawyers filed an emergency petition, it was too late. The administration had already fast-tracked the deportation, bypassing judicial review and violating the most basic tenets of due process.
“This isn’t just incompetence—it’s malice,” said progressive Democrat Lisa McCormick, who challenged Senator Bob Menendez in 2018. “The Trump regime has spent years demonizing immigrants, tearing families apart, and now they’re literally deporting American babies. This is state-sponsored child abuse, a grotesque betrayal of our Constitution, and a stain on our nation’s conscience.”
McCormick, a vocal critic of ICE’s brutal tactics, called for immediate congressional hearings and the termination of officials responsible for the deportation.
“If this were a Democratic administration, Republicans would be screaming ‘tyranny.’ But because it’s Trump, they’re silent as children are stripped of their rights,” said McCormick.
This case is not isolated. The Trump administration has repeatedly flouted court orders and deported U.S. citizens under dubious pretenses:
- Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man, was wrongfully deported to El Salvador—and the government refused to bring him back.
- Seven federal judges have blocked Trump’s efforts to deport Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador under an obscure wartime statute.
- ICE has repeatedly detained and nearly deported U.S. citizens, only backing down after media exposure.
What Happens Next?
Judge Doughty has scheduled a May 16 hearing to determine whether the government knowingly violated the law. Legal experts say the administration could face contempt charges—but with Trump’s DOJ in charge, accountability is unlikely.
Meanwhile, V.M.L. remains stranded in Honduras, her American birthright stolen by her own government.