The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) rejected claims that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents handcuffed children during a recent operation at the San Antonio Immigration Court, calling the allegations "categorically false."
The denial follows a report from the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC), which shared video footage claiming it showed ICE officers detaining a family of six, including four children, during a scheduled court appearance on May 29. The footage appeared to show a young male restrained with zip ties.
In a statement released to the Washington Examiner, DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the individual was not a minor:
"During a recent encounter and arrest of an 18-year-old illegal alien, he was photographed alongside minor children in immigration court in San Antonio, Texas ICE officers do not restrain minors"
Our SA team was on the ground bearing witness to the unconstitutional violation of due process at the local immigration courthouse.
— Immigrant Legal Resource Center (@the_ILRC) May 29, 2025
REMINDER: under the First Amendment, you have a RIGHT to record ICE in public places.
It is imperative we document these abuses. https://t.co/MoBp5KmoGK
McLaughlin added that individuals without lawful immigration status "may face arrest and removal," and reiterated the department's position that "self-deportation is a safer and more efficient alternative." Jessica Solis, a migrant advocate present at the courthouse, offered a conflicting account to Fox San Antonio:
"We witnessed a family get taken away. A family of six. A mother, a father, and all of their children being detained by ICE. They had the children zip-tied in cuffs, and they took them to the processing center."
The ILRC criticized the arrests in a statement of its own, explaining it is part of a broader strategy to intimidate immigrants into avoiding court appearances through "an unprecedented campaign to terrorize immigrants and undermine their constitutional rights to due process."
ILRC attorney Priscilla Olivarez, who filmed the incident, stated:
"As I took the video documenting this unconscionable act, I questioned ICE agents on their authority to apprehend people, including children, who were attending their court hearing"
The Trump administration has set a goal of deporting at least one million undocumented immigrants by the end of 2025, with ICE aiming to make a minimum of 3,000 arrests per day.
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