Share and Follow
California officials are urgently advocating for the return of a 6-year-old deaf student and his family after they were apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and subsequently deported to Colombia.
The young boy, accompanied by his 5-year-old sibling and mother, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, had sought asylum in the United States from Colombia and resided in Hayward for four years. Their detainment by ICE occurred at the agency’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program (ISAP) office in San Francisco.
State leaders are now pressing the Trump administration to facilitate the family’s return to the United States.
In a news conference on Friday, California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond urged the Department of Homeland Security to locate the family and bring them back to California.
Thurmond highlighted that the 6-year-old attends the California School for the Deaf in Fremont. At the time of his detainment and deportation, he was home sick from school and lacked essential medical devices, and the family did not receive due process.
California Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond made the announcement during a news conference on Friday, demanding that Department of Homeland Security officials help find the family and return them to California.
Thurmond said the 6-year-old boy attends the California School for the Deaf in Fremont and was home sick from school this week when he was detained and deported without critical medical devices – and without due process.
Thurmond said, “This innocent child is being deprived of both education and basic, essential communication.” He added, “This cruelty must end.”
Gutierrez works in childcare and was checking in at the immigration office when agents arrested her and her children, affiliate KRON4 reports.
“I’m sick to my stomach that someone would abduct a 6-year-old child who has a disability and his family when his mother was reporting to a center and doing what she’s supposed to do,” Thurmond said.
The DHS website says that the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program oversees undocumented immigrants’ compliance with release conditions while on ICE’s non-detained docket. “ISAP enables aliens to remain in their communities contributing to their families and community organizations and, as appropriate, concluding their affairs in the U.S. as they move through immigration proceedings or prepare for departure,” officials wrote.
The mother had followed her ISAP supervision orders fully, according to immigration attorney Niko De Bremaeker of Centro Legal de la Raza, but reportedly had an order of removal, despite having no criminal record and a legal right to be notified prior to deportation.
According to KRON4, De Bremaeker said he was able to speak to Gutierrez Friday, who said her children were traumatized from being ripped away from their home.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said in a statement to KTLA: “On March 3, ICE arrested Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, an illegal alien from Colombia. She illegally entered the United States in 2022 and was RELEASED into our country under the Biden administration. She received full due process and was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on November 25, 2024.
“ICE does NOT separate families. Parents are given a choice: They can be removed with their children or place them with a safe person they designate. This is consistent with past administration’s immigration enforcement. Gutierrez chose to be removed with her children, and they returned to their home on March 5.
“Being in detention and in the country illegally is a choice. Parents can avoid detention and receive a free flight and $2,600 with the CBP Home app. By using the CBP Home app illegal aliens reserve the chance to come back the right legal way and live the American dream.”