Hayward Family of Three Deported at Routine SF Immigration Check-in, Including Deaf Seven-Year-Old Boy

"This obfuscation, this false information, these different stories for different people—it's just chaos at best and intentional. The fact that she has a severely disabled child is very strong humanitarian grounds to not deport a 7-year-old."

"ICE officials have given attorneys and Gutierrez's family confusing and false information about which detention center Gutierrez was sent to. She was afraid her ex-partner would harm her and her two children. He was involved with a violent gang."

Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, a mother of two children ages five and seven, reported for her mandatory check-in at the ICE office in San Francisco and was detained along with her entire family. Her seven-year-old son is deaf and was deported without his hearing aids. The family had been living in Hayward for approximately four years after Lesly fled Colombia to escape an abusive relationship with a man involved in gang violence. Attorneys representing the family report receiving conflicting and inaccurate information about the family's whereabouts and detention status. Immigration advocates argue that the severe disability of the child constitutes strong humanitarian grounds against deportation. The family's current location remains unconfirmed as contact has not been established.

Read at sfist.com