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Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Wednesday released a Honduran family — including a 6-year-old boy with leukemia and his 9-year-old sister — following a lawsuit and mounting public pressure.
The story captured attention for being a stark contradiction from President Trump's promise to target "violent criminals" in mass deportations.
In this case, a mother and her two children showed up to Los Angeles Immigration Court to make their case for asylum.
Like thousands of immigrants across the country, they saw their case quickly dismissed — with ICE agents waiting to arrest them in the hallway.
They were detained and transferred to the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas, where they were held for the last month. During that time, the 6-year-old missed a medical appointment in Los Angeles to be treated for leukemia.
That's when the Texas Civil Rights Project and Columbia University Immigrant Rights Clinic stepped in and filed a lawsuit on their behalf in federal court in San Antonio.
“This family’s release shows that ICE responds to public pressure. When people across the nation expressed concern about this family being snatched out of their community, subject to arrest at a courthouse and detention for weeks, ICE released them," said Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrant Rights Clinic.
The family had crossed the border legally in October of last year for a court appointment through the now-defunct CBP One App to seek asylum due to threats of violence in Honduras.
They were granted parole status in the U.S. and had been staying with a relative in Los Angeles for the previous seven months — where they had become embedded in the community.
"It was terrifying for the children and their mother and their community to have this family who is doing all the right things forcibly disappeared," Mukherjee said.
During their detention in Dilley, questions arose about the treatment of the family — especially the child with leukemia.
In its court filing, lawyers for the family said the mother "must watch her children suffer while [the boy] exhibits concerning symptoms of a deadly disease, and she is left powerless to ensure that he receives specialized medical treatment."
The Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, responded to this characterization in a statement on X, saying it "prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of all detainees in its care."
"At no time during detention is a detained individual denied emergency care," the post said. "Fortunately, 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."
FAKE DISGUSTING “NEWS” as the @LATimes knows. The implication that @ICEgov would deny a child the medical care they need is flatly FALSE. ICE ALWAYS prioritizes the health, safety, and well-being of all detainees in its care.
— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) June 30, 2025
At no time during detention is a detained individual… pic.twitter.com/3Rrqs4Nnpu
Lawyers for the family said they heard from people across the country asking how they could help after news of the arrest and detention.
DHS did not respond to a request for comment about the family's release, but the lawyers say they believe public outcry played a role.
"We're really grateful for all the people who responded to this case, and who cared about this family across Texas and across the nation, because it really did have an impact. ICE responded to public pressure," said Kate Gibson Kumar, staff attorney for the Texas Civil Rights Project's Beyond Borders program.
The family is staying at a shelter in South Texas following their release on Wednesday evening. The mother plans to return to Los Angeles and continue trying to seek asylum in the United States.
"They're making their way back and hopefully going to continue to live a normal life — going to church, going to school, doing all of their recreational activities that they love to do, which involves playing soccer and painting, and just spending time with their family and friends there, and, of course, continuing forward with their asylum case."
The future of the family's lawsuit challenging the Trump administration policy is unclear as the relief they sought was their immediate release.
Legal challenges to the ICE courthouse arrest directive continue in several jurisdictions across the country.
"The family’s arrest and detention were in flagrant violation of the U.S. Constitution’s protections and federal law. We must stand together and speak out against unlawful, unconstitutional and un-American policies that inflict cruelty on children and families," Mukherjee said. "On this July 4th, let’s remember that the choices we collectively make determine what our nation is and what our nation becomes."
