AUSTIN (KXAN) – Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a mother and her three children, two of whom are U.S. citizens, following a traffic stop last week near Dobie Middle School in north Austin, according to multiple sources, including the Texas Civil Rights Project and Immigrant Legal Resource Center.

Both groups told KXAN they have since provided legal support to the family. ILRC’s senior staff attorney, Cori Hash, said the Texas Department of Public Safety pulled the family’s vehicle over for having expired tags outside the school.

ICE and DPS have not responded to KXAN’s request for comment. We will update this if we receive statements from either agency.

Austin’s Mexican Consulate Carlos Enrique González Echevarría said details he obtained from ICE indicate the family’s truck had expired Nevada plates. The father was detained at that time and sent to a nearby ICE facility, according to ILRC.

“DPS then found out about [the family’s] immigration condition and proceeded to call DHS (Department of Homeland Security), who later arrived and transferred [him] to the ICE processing center,” González Echevarría said.

He added that the father has since been deported to Mexico but that his colleague spoke with him at the facility last week, where “he was in good health.”

The Austin Independent School District confirmed that a parent was detained near the school. District officials said they do not have additional details since the incident occurred off campus. 

González Echevarría said authorities learned “that back in 2016, [the mother] entered the U.S. requesting asylum, which was later denied, and she was instructed to abandon the United States as soon as possible.” He said he believed the woman then stayed in the U.S. and later gave birth to two other children, “apart from her firstborn, who was born in Mexico.”

“Having found out that she remained, ICE now instructed her to appear with her children at their offices the next day, to proceed with her removal, allowing her to leave with a GPS tracker,” he continued. The family’s TCRP legal team confirmed this “ankle monitor” was part of ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, or ISAP.

Multiple sources told KXAN, upon that appearance, ICE detained the mother and her three children, two of whom, attorneys say, are U.S. citizens and later deported them.

“She followed [ICE’s] instructions and appeared at their facilities, where they started the removal process,” González Echevarría said. “She was deported through McAllen-Reynosa and is now in Mexico.”

Online records provided by Grassroots Leadership, a nonprofit advocacy group focused on incarceration and deportation issues, show the mother was previously listed in the ICE detainee locator search following the traffic stop, but her name is no longer there.

Grassroots Leadership provided a photo of what they say is the family deported by ICE. KXAN is not revealing the children’s identity or the parents’ names until official sources confirm that information.

“Once again [U.S. Customs and Border Control] and ICE are using zero tolerance,” said TCRP’s senior supervising attorney, Daniel Hatoum. “It’s harming children – this time U.S. children, too.”

ILRC told KXAN that ICE did not allow communication with close family members who were willing to keep the children during the detainment.

“ICE was informed by the family and legal advocates that the children were U.S. citizens and ICE knowingly deported them anyway,” ILRC Senior Staff Attorney Cori Hash said in a statement.

Federal, state orders

In January, AISD issued guidance to staff on how to respond if federal immigration officers come to any of its campuses. The guidance came just days after the new Trump administration threw out a long-standing federal policy protecting sensitive areas, like churches and schools, from ICE raids – part of ramped up enforcement efforts across the country.

At that time, AISD Superintendent Matias Segura issued a statement saying the district recognizes the “emotional toll” such moves could have on students, families and staff.

“For many in our community, these are not just policy discussions, but deeply personal issues that can create uncertainty and fear,” Segura added. 

According to the district’s website, Dobie Middle’s School’s student body is more than 80% Hispanic. Last month, ICE told KXAN its “enforcement resources are based on intelligence-driven leads and ICE officers do not target persons indiscriminately.”

Also in January, Gov. Greg Abbott asked DPS to deploy tactical strike teams to “support the Trump Administration’s homeland security operations to locate and arrest criminal illegal immigrants in the state.”

Abbott said then in a press release that Texas was expanding operations to assist Trump’s hard and fast efforts to crack down on illegal immigration.

“Today, I directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to deploy tactical strike teams to work alongside our federal partners to enforce immigration laws throughout the state,” Abbott said in the release. “These teams will coordinate with Homeland Security agencies to track down the thousands of illegal immigrants with active warrants across Texas and deport them from our country.”

KXAN is also awaiting a response from the governor’s office about that initiative and if the AISD incident is related. We will update this if we receive any responses.

David Barer and Nabil Remadna contributed to this report.