WASHINGTON, D.C. — Secretary of State Marco Rubio pushed back Sunday against what he called “misleading” media reports suggesting the U.S. government deported three U.S. citizen children alongside their illegal immigrant mothers.
Appearing on NBC News’ Meet the Press, Rubio told host Kristen Welker that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported three Honduran mothers who had entered the U.S. illegally—not their children, who are American citizens. The children, aged 7, 4, and 2, accompanied their mothers voluntarily, Rubio said.
“Three U.S. citizens ages 4, 7 and 2 were not deported,” Rubio emphasized. “Their mothers who were illegally in this country were deported. The children went with their mothers. The children are U.S. citizens; they can come back into the United States if their father, or someone else here, wants to assume them.”
Rubio criticized news outlets, including The Associated Press, The Washington Post, The Guardian, and NPR, for publishing headlines that he argued distorted the situation. He described the coverage as falsely portraying ICE agents forcibly deporting U.S. citizen children.
“It’s not like ICE agents kicked down the door and grabbed the 2-year-old and threw him on an airplane. That’s misleading. That’s just not true,” Rubio said.
The situation garnered national attention after a family lawyer claimed that the 4-year-old child, who is battling Stage 4 cancer, boarded the deportation flight without access to medication or a doctor, according to The Washington Post.
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Rubio defended the administration’s handling of the case, noting that if the government had separated the mothers from their children by forcing the minors to stay behind, critics would have accused the administration of holding American citizen children “hostage.”
“If someone is in this country unlawfully, illegally, that person gets deported,” Rubio said. “If that person says ‘I want to take my child with me,’ well then you have two choices: allow the child to go with the parent, or separate them. Either way, you’d face backlash.”
The controversy has reignited debate among Democrats and immigration advocates, who have warned that deporting U.S. citizens would violate the Constitution. Under the 14th Amendment, anyone born on U.S. soil is granted citizenship rights that cannot be revoked.
Further fueling tensions, President Donald Trump signed an executive order on his first day in office aiming to end birthright citizenship for children of certain immigrants. Although a federal judge struck down the order, the case is now pending before the U.S. Supreme Court.
Democratic lawmakers have also accused the Trump administration of violating due process protections in deportation cases. Recently, four congressional Democrats and Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) traveled to El Salvador to meet Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an alleged MS-13 gang member deported in March, highlighting what they see as overreach and lack of legal safeguards in removals.
The White House has not yet issued an additional statement regarding the controversy.
