"As we stand here, my staff has just landed in Colombia and is placing the hearing devices back in the boy's ear. To the child we have returned his sound, but to our nation, what has happened to our soul. If you want to deport a cartel boss, everyone here will help you pack their bags. But if you're coming for a 6-year-old, you have to go through us."
"ICE pressured her to sign a document in a language she did not understand and put her on a flight to a faraway detention center, all within minutes. In a move that shocks the conscience, ICE denied Joseph the assistive devices he needs to live."
"How does ruining the life of a 6-year-old deaf child make our community or our country any safer? It doesn't, it makes the country darker."
Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez was deported to Colombia with her two young children, including a 4-year-old and a deaf 6-year-old, during a routine check-in at the San Francisco immigration office. The family was allegedly forced to sign deportation papers and prevented from retrieving the hearing device needed by her deaf son, Joseph, who attends the California School for the Deaf in Fremont. Representative Swalwell held a press conference calling for Congressional hearings into ICE abuses and due process violations. His staff traveled to Colombia to return the child's hearing devices. Homeland Security stated the family had a 2024 deportation order and the mother was given a choice. The family's lawyer countered that ICE pressured the mother to sign documents in a language she didn't understand and denied the child necessary assistive devices.
#immigration-enforcement #deportation #due-process-violations #disability-rights #congressional-oversight
Read at ABC7 San Francisco
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