Federal immigration agents detained a two-year-old girl and her father in Minneapolis on Thursday and transported them to Texas, according to court records and the family’s lawyers. The father, identified in court filings as Elvis Joel TE, and his daughter were stopped and detained by officers around 1pm when they were returning home from the store. By the evening, a federal judge had ordered the girl be released by 9.30pm, but federal officials instead put both of them on a plane heading to a Texas detention centre.
As the father and daughter arrived home, agents entered their backyard and driveway area without a warrant, according to Kira Kelley, one of the family’s lawyers. One agent allegedly broke the glass window of the father’s car while the girl was inside. The agents refused to allow the father to bring his daughter to the mother or other family members waiting inside the home. The two-year-old and her father were then placed in an immigration agent’s vehicle, which did not have a car seat.
Lawyers filed an emergency petition demanding the release of the father and daughter. A Minnesota-based federal judge issued an order around 8.10pm prohibiting the government from transferring them outside Minnesota, and soon after ordered the immediate release of the girl into the custody of her attorney. The judge cited the 'risk of irreparable harm' and noted that the toddler had no criminal history. However, the government placed the father and daughter on a flight to Texas around 8.30pm.
The father, originally from Ecuador, has a pending asylum application and no final order of removal. The girl has lived in Minneapolis since her arrival in the US as a newborn. On Friday, immigration officials flew both back to Minnesota and released the two-year-old into her mother’s custody. The father remains detained in Minnesota. Irina Vaynerman, a lawyer for the family, called the events 'depravity beyond words'.
The Department of Homeland Security said agents were conducting a 'targeted enforcement operation' and alleged that the mother refused to take the child, a claim the family’s lawyer denied. The detention comes two days after ICE detained five-year-old Liam Ramos in Minnesota, prompting international backlash.
