Boy, 6, battling cancer is seized by ICE outside Texas courthouse
By Alexa Cimino
Daily Mail
Jun 28, 2025
The Honduran mother and her two children were taken into custody by ICE moments after leaving a Los Angeles immigration courtroom. (Pictured: US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem participating with ICE agents during a raid in Phoenix, Arizona, April 8, 2025)
A Honduran mother has sued ICE and the Trump administration after she and her cancer-stricken six-year-old son were arrested by agents outside a Los Angeles immigration court.
The woman, who is not named in court documents, said they violated her family's rights by detaining them at a Texas facility, despite their lawful efforts to seek asylum in the U.S.
In a scathing petition filed in San Antonio federal court, her lawyers argue that the arrest was unconstitutional and traumatic, especially for her young son who has undergone chemotherapy for acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
The young boy urinated on himself and remained in wet clothes 'for hours' during the traumatic arrest, according to the documents.
'They're asylum seekers fleeing from violence, who had an appointment at the border, were paroled into the country and the government made an assessment that they didn't have to be detained,' said attorney Kate Gibson Kumar of the Texas Civil Rights Project.
'There should be some sort of protection for this family, which is doing everything right.'
The lawsuit claims the mother and her kids were taken into custody without warning on May 29, immediately after a judge granted dismissal of their asylum case at the government's request.
The woman had objected, telling the court, 'We wish to continue [with our cases],' according to legal filings.
The 6-year-old’s soccer ball and favorite outfit
The family - already facing death threats in Honduras - had been living in California with relatives while attending court hearings, going to church, and enrolling the children in local public schools.
But shortly after leaving the courtroom, all three were arrested in the hallway by ICE agents and taken to a nearby facility, where they were allegedly held for hours.
Her son, who was due for a medical check-up on June 5, missed the appointment due to the arrest.
According to court documents, all three 'cried in fear' during the ordeal.
They were later flown to San Antonio and transferred to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas - where they remain in detention.
Kumar slammed the move as cruel and unnecessary.
'So often, you'll hear all the rhetoric in this country that immigrants should be doing it 'the right way,' and it's ironic in this case because we're in a situation where this family did it 'the right way' and they're being punished for it,' she told the Los Angeles Times.
Kumar added that the government never gave the mother a chance to contest the detention before a neutral judge - violating her Fourth and Fifth Amendment rights.
Federal officials pushed back, saying the case is unfolding lawfully.
The 6-year-old boy, diagnosed with leukemia at age 3, was due for a medical appointment he missed because of the arrest (Pictured: Workers stand handcuffed after being arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement)
Court documents say the boy urinated on himself in fear and remained in wet clothes for hours after the family was detained (Pictured: The six-year-old's math worksheet)
Attorney Kate Gibson Kumar says the family followed every rule and is now being unfairly punished
'This family had chosen to appeal their case - which had already been thrown out by an immigration judge - and will remain in ICE custody until it is resolved,' said DHS assistant secretary for public affairs Tricia McLaughlin.
As for the boy's cancer, McLaughlin noted that 'the minor child in question has not undergone chemotherapy in over a year, and has been seen regularly by medical personnel since arriving at the Dilley facility.'
She also insisted that 'ICE ALWAYS prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of all detainees in its care.'
'The implication that ICE would deny a child the medical care they need is flatly FALSE, and it is an insult to the men and women of federal law enforcement,' she said.
But according to the lawsuit, the family was left in limbo - with the children crying each night and praying 'for God to take them out of the detention center.'
The mother says her son went days without proper monitoring for his cancer.
Her legal team is now asking a judge to block their deportation and to release them from detention, warning that returning to Honduras would place the family in grave danger.
A judge has ordered the government to respond to the habeas corpus petition by July 1.
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