“ICE at no point explained to Ms. Rodriguez Gutierrez what was happening,” he told reporters on Monday.
De Bremaeker said that throughout the arrest, Rodriguez Gutierrez had pleaded with officials to allow her to get medical equipment the 6-year-old needed from another family member who was outside of the ICE office but was denied.
“It’s incredibly cruel to rip a child, as they are thriving and not only using the assistive devices that they need … out of this incredibly brave and strong progress that he has made,” De Bremaeker said Friday, noting that sign language in Colombia is different from the American Sign Language the young student had been learning here.
He said that in the days following their detention, ICE violated the family’s due process rights by repeatedly misleading immigration attorneys about their whereabouts. De Bremaeker was not able to locate the family until Friday, when he spoke with Rodriguez Gutierrez and confirmed that she had been deported to Colombia.
“We were told at every point that the family was at a different location, and even up to last night when I spoke with ICE, they told me a different location than where they actually were,” he told reporters last week.
He said Monday that the confusion prevented attorneys from filing emergency motions to stop their deportation in the right jurisdiction, and that Rodriguez Gutierrez was also blocked from invoking humanitarian protections that could have stopped the deportation of her deaf son.
He called on Congress to launch an inquiry into the due process violations and compel DHS to bring the family home.
“They promised that they would deport violent criminals. Now, they are deporting kids with disabilities,” Swalwell said. “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. We will not stand by why ICE tears our families apart and endangers innocent children.
“What happened here was not about public safety … It makes the country darker,” he said.
KQED’s Juan Carlos Lara contributed to this report.
