NEW YORK, NY — Early last month, federal immigration agents detained five‑year‑old Génesis Ester Gutiérrez Castellanos—a U.S. citizen—alongside her mother, Karen, after approaching their home in Austin. Agents took them into custody and transported them nearly 80 miles away to a San Antonio‑area hotel, where they were held for days without access to an attorney or any opportunity to appear before a judge. During that time, ICE kept their location off the agency’s public database, instructed the mother not to tell anyone where they were, and blocked attorneys from intervening in the case. Less than a week later, ICE deported both mother and daughter to Honduras, a country Génesis had never known, despite the child’s U.S. citizenship and the mother’s wish for her daughter to remain in the U.S. with other family members.
In response, Shaina Simenas, Co-Director, Technical Assistance Program at the Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights released the following statement:
“ICE hid this mother and her child from their attorneys and from the courts, denying them every due process protection our laws are supposed to guarantee. Karen was faced with an impossible choice about whether to take her daughter with her or not, but that choice should have been hers to make. Instead, in violation of its own internal policy, ICE denied her the chance to make arrangements for her child’s safety or well‑being. Secret detentions, rushed deportations, and blocking access to counsel violate due process and endanger children.”
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The Young Center for Immigrant Children’s Rights is a non-profit organization that protects and advances the rights and best interests of immigrant children and advocates for an immigration system that treats children as children first.