Democratic lawmakers from California demanded urgent answers from the Trump administration on Tuesday regarding the whereabouts and condition of an eight-year-old Haitian boy who was restrained and taken into federal custody during an immigration appointment last week in San Diego.
Video footage obtained by NBC News showed the third-grade student being escorted away by three armed officers following what family members described as a routine check-in on Nov. 4. California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, along with four Democratic representatives, sent an oversight letter pressing Department of Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for a full accounting of the child’s status.
“Video footage appears to show the use of restraints on a child who seemed to pose no threat to those around him, raising serious questions about the handling of this incident,” the lawmakers wrote, according to letters cited by The Guardian and ABC News. “We express concerns about the basis for this action and the harm it may cause a young child who appeared for his required hearing.”
Dispute Over Legal Guardianship
The boy attends Fay Elementary School in San Diego and had been staying with his uncle and cousins since his father was deported to Mexico last year, according to the immigrant advocacy organization Haitian Bridge Alliance. Guerline Jozef, the executive director of the group, told San Diego NBC affiliate KNSD that the child was transferred to the custody of the Office of Refugee Resettlement, an agency overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services.
Jozef told reporters that the father’s sudden expulsion left no time to complete the paperwork required to grant formal guardianship to relatives remaining in the United States. She described the subsequent detention as traumatic for the young child.
Federal officials defended the action. An agency spokesperson told ABC News and The Guardian that Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel acted “out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the child’s safety.” Because the uncle could not produce formal guardianship documents, authorities stated that federal anti-trafficking statutes required them to designate the third grader as an unaccompanied minor and place him under government protection.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security rejected claims that the child was placed into standard immigration detention, describing allegations against agency personnel as an attempt to undermine federal child protection initiatives.
Community Reaction and Legal Fallout
Local educators and civic figures expressed alarm over the episode. The board and superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District wrote directly to federal immigration authorities to register their objections to the boy’s detention, as well as the administration’s rollback of Temporary Protected Status for Haitian nationals. Cody Petterson, a trustee for the school district, told NBC that the student should remain with his family rather than inside an unfamiliar government facility.
A spokesperson for California Rep. Juan Vargas, who signed the congressional oversight letter, told The Guardian that the congressman’s office made multiple attempts to contact federal immigration and health authorities regarding the boy’s location but had not received a response.
The congressional letter asks the administration to clarify where the child is being held, verify whether his relatives have been informed of his location, and describe what measures are underway to return him to his family in San Diego.
