Lawmakers seek whereabouts of Haitian boy taken at ICE appointment

The family of an 8-year-old Haitian boy taken from an immigration appointment in San Diego does not know where he is being held, according to a California congressman who says he is trying to help them find him. Federal officials say they took the child into custody because the man caring for him could not establish that he was his legal guardian.

The boy, a third grader at Fay Elementary School, went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement appointment with his uncle last week. Video obtained by NBC San Diego shows three immigration officers leading him away. The Haitian Bridge Alliance, an immigrant rights group, says the boy had been living with his uncle and cousins since his father was deported last year.

On Tuesday, four California lawmakers and two senators sought confirmation from the federal government of the child’s whereabouts and whether his family had been told his location. Rep. Juan Vargas, a California Democrat, said his office was helping the family obtain information needed to find him.

“Targeting a child, taking them away from their community and classmates, and forcing them into detention is despicable. It is inhumane,” Vargas told NBC San Diego. The Department of Homeland Security disputes the characterization that the child was placed in detention.

A DHS spokesperson said a man claiming to be the boy’s uncle brought him to the ICE appointment, but officers could not confirm their relationship or establish that the man had legal guardianship. Officials therefore classified the boy as an unaccompanied minor and removed him from the household “out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the child’s safety,” the spokesperson said. DHS told The Guardian that federal anti-trafficking laws required officials to take the child into care.

Guerline Jozef, executive director of the Haitian Bridge Alliance, said the boy was subsequently transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which cares for children classified as unaccompanied minors. Jozef told NBC that his father’s deportation left no opportunity to formally transfer guardianship to relatives in the United States. The office told NBC News it does not comment on individual cases to protect children’s privacy.

DHS said the boy lacked legal immigration status and was brought into the United States by a man who said he was his father. The department said Customs and Border Protection, not ICE, removed that man to Mexico. The Haitian Bridge Alliance and school district officials describe him as the boy’s father.

San Diego Unified School District officials said the child received a summons to meet ICE officers after losing Temporary Protected Status, a designation that had shielded Haitians from deportation. His uncle took him because he did not want to break the law, the officials wrote in a letter to federal agencies. According to the district, a Supreme Court decision this summer allowed President Donald Trump to end the protections for Haitians.

The district said it was sending additional crisis counselors to Fay Elementary because the boy’s classmates had expressed fear and concern for him. A district spokesperson said Monday that neither DHS nor the Department of Health and Human Services had responded to its letter about the effects of immigration enforcement on students.