Overview
- The Hayward mother, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, and her two sons were detained March 3 during an ICE check-in in San Francisco and were removed to Colombia on March 5 after transit through Alexandria, Louisiana.
- ICE says an immigration judge issued a final removal order in 2024 and that the mother was offered the option to leave her children with a designated caregiver in the U.S.
- The family’s attorney alleges agents denied the 6-year-old access to his hearing aids, blocked access to counsel, and gave shifting information on the family’s location, thwarting emergency legal filings.
- Rep. Eric Swalwell said his staff traveled to Colombia to return the child’s hearing aids and is pursuing humanitarian parole and a congressional inquiry into the case.
- The child, a student at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, is now in Colombia with his family and in hiding for safety, according to the attorney.