Los Angeles, May 2025 – It was a day like so many in the labyrinth of American immigration bureaucracy – functional, overcrowded, emotionless. But what happened on May 29 in the hallway of the Los Angeles Immigration Court marked a moral low point that weighs heavier than any law. A Honduran mother appeared with her two children – a nine-year-old daughter and a six-year-old son suffering from leukemia. They had hoped to continue pursuing their asylum application. But what they encountered was not a court – it was an ambush. As soon as they left the courtroom, men in plain clothes were waiting. ICE agents. No warning. No hearing. No respect. One of the agents lifted his shirt to deliberately show his weapon – in front of a terminally ill child. The boy was so terrified he wet himself, and his clothes remained soaked for hours. No comfort, no change of clothes, no compassion. Instead of medical care, they were detained for hours – and then transferred to Texas, to the notorious Dilley Detention Center. Hundreds of miles away from the next scheduled treatment. From the most basic care.
The family had legal parole status and had been living with relatives in Los Angeles for months. The children attended school, painted, played in the park, went to church on Sundays. The state ignored all of this – and treated them like enemies of the state. Attorney Elora Mukherjee from Columbia Law School and the Texas Civil Rights Project have filed a lawsuit. They invoke two pillars of the U.S. Constitution – the prohibition of arbitrary arrests and the right to due process. Both were systematically violated in this case. Because this is not an unfortunate exception – it is deliberate. The Trump administration issued a quota – 3,000 arrests per day. One million per year. Allegedly targeting “dangerous criminals.” But according to data from the Cato Institute, 93 percent of those arrested this year had never been convicted of a violent crime. Their crime? They exist. They hope. They believe that a U.S. court is a place of justice – not a prelude to deportation.
Now the family faces expedited removal – no new hearing, no defense, no medical treatment. The Department of Homeland Security remains silent. No denial, no compassion, not a hint of responsibility. Protests are forming in San Antonio, Los Angeles, and other cities. Because at some point, a line is crossed. You do not arrest children. You do not arrest the sick. You do not abuse courts as traps. And you cannot call yourself a democracy if you destroy the most vulnerable without necessity. What is happening here is not an episode – it is a turning point. A state that targets a child with cancer loses more than just its reputation – it loses its claim to justice.
Note:
Out of respect for the dignity and safety of the affected family, and in full awareness of our responsibility to protect children, we have decided not to publish any images or video footage related to this case. If a country like the United States no longer respects these limits, it becomes all the more important that journalism does.
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