In yet another example of Trump administration abuse of migrant children, federal CBP officials refused to allow three U.S. citizen girls (ages 9, 10, and 13) to leave O'Hare airport because the girls parents are believed to be undocumented immigrants.
The children were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials upon returning from a visit to Mexico with a cousin who had a valid visitor visa. CBP said that they would not be released until their parents picked them up. After arriving on a late flight, the kids were detained beginning at 3 a.m. The children's cousin, who had a valid visitor visa, was (illegally) detained as well.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection officers deemed the cousin "inadmissible," according to a department spokesperson. The statement didn't offer further details about why the cousin's status was insufficient. "U.S. Customs and Border Protection Officers have attempted numerous times today to reach family members to pick up the children. As of 2 pm the next day, CBP officers still awaited a legal guardian to arrive and pick the children up.
Because the CBP violated the law by illegally detaining the cousin (who had a valid visa), the children's mother didn't trust U.S. officials and felt that by showing up at the airport with a U-visa, there might be a problem. The mother's instincts were right-- there was almost universal suspicion that the CBP's real goal was to use the children as bait to reel in one or both parents for deportation.
The mother reached out to the Mexican Consulate, who agreed that she would be taken into custody or deported herself if she went to the airport. The consulate first worked to get the parents' permission to release the children into the custody of an immigration lawyer, but CBP refused.
The incident brought dozens of protesters to O'Hare International Airport, carrying signs that read "Free the Kids" and "Stop ICE." Immigration lawyers attempted to meet with the children to check on their well-being-- but agents refused that request as well.
The situation got the attention of Gov. J.B. Pritzker, prompting a tweet saying custom agents were using “children as pawns to advance a racist and xenophobic immigration policy.” Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot also said she’d been working with customs officials to mediate return of the children.
After many hours of negotiations brokered by immigration lawyers between CBP officials and Mexican consulate officials, the CBP finally relented and released the children's into the mother's custody around 4 pm-- after officially agreeing to forego any attempt to seize the mother.
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