Kristi Noem defends the treatment of Trump government with 2-year-olds who were sent to Honduras with deported mother

El Paso, Texas -Imigungs officers flew a 2-year-old US citizen to Honduras last week because her mother, who was deported, “wanted her child with her,” says Kristi Noem, secretary of the home protection authority.

Noem spoke on Monday in a far -reaching interview with CBS News on the border between the USA and Mexico about the case that drew the alarm from a federal judge that covered President Trump’s procedure and some of the following legal controversy.

Mr. Trump has released the White House due to stricter border security and a procedure against illegal immigration. Now, 100 days, the administration advertises with a decline in illegal crossings along the southern border by 95% and very few “encounters”, which have been reported there in decades.

But when it comes to removing the millions of undocumented immigrants who have already driven to the United States or have exceeded their visas, the Trump government has suspended a legal setback.

“We did it right. We built cases. We followed the worst after the worst and did it right,” said Noem.

A number of federal judges are not so sure, even recently in The case of the mother without papers Who was deported to Honduras on Friday. Her 2-year-old – A US citizen – was also removed with her from the United States before a court was able to clarify the child’s interests. The result that US district judge Terry Doughty wrote is the “strong suspicion that the government deported a US citizen without a meaningful process”.

“Basically, I am not closed.

Some of the judges who decided against the government’s immigration policy The claims of the Trump government described In the case of the wrongly deported Kilmar Abbargo Garcia “shocking”.

If these judges are activists, Noem said that there are “legal opinions on both sides of this problem. That is why we have a court system so that decisions such as this calling can be lodged and the Supreme Court can make decisions that ultimately give us a lot more clarity about what proper procedure, what it has defined and to which he followed.”

The 2-year-old girl, her 11-year-old sister and her mother were detained on Tuesday morning during a routine check with immigration and customs authorities in New Orleans. A family lawyer announced immigration authorities that the girl was a US citizen and, according to court documents, sent a copy of her birth certificate to ice. But later that day an ice agent called the girl’s father and informed him that “she would deport his partner and daughters,” said the documents.

The Trump government made a letter of April 24 to a federal court that officers say that the mother agreed to bring her young daughter to Honduras with her.

Lawyers who represented the family said that the girl’s father, who is assumed that he is still in the USA, should appoint someone as a legal guardian for the child so that she could stay in the United States, but an ICE official said in a dish that the agency had not received the necessary information. A trial on this matter is planned for May 16.

When asked whether the 2-year-old could return if a relative in the United States returns the child and the mother agrees, Noem said: “Yes, absolutely. And that is the process.”

“This mother gave us documentation and fully told her that she wanted her child with her and we honored it,” said Noem.

Noem denied that hardness is part of the government’s message when removing mothers who have children from the country.

“With families we recognize that families can stay together. And so these mothers have the opportunity to take their children with them, which I am absolutely where the heart of President Trump is,” she said. “I think the mothers should have the opportunity to have their children with them. And if these mothers go and register and hand in themselves, you and your children can come back or if you want to look after your child from someone else in the United States, this is an option that you can also follow.”

ICE said on Tuesday that around 66,500 arrests have been made since January 20 and almost 65,700 unauthorized immigrants deported. Three out of four of these arrests did not participate in authorized immigrants with a criminal register, according to the agency.

Despite the government’s procedure, Noem said that it still wants the United States to have an inviting attitude towards legal immigration.

“Oh, absolutely,” she said. “And that is part of our process that we have to fix.”

Camilo Montoya Galvez has contributed to the reporting.

Camilo Montoya-Galvez contributed to this report.