Death of abused migrant boy shines light on decisions facing parents about to be deported

By the time doctors finally saw Samuel Antonio Maldonado Erazo’s 3-year-old nephew, authorities say the boy had been struck on the head at least 17 times, had burn marks consistent with someone pressing a lighter against his skin, and suffered a severed pancreas, a fractured collarbone and broken ribs — one so bad that it detached from the boy’s spine.

How the boy, whose name wasn’t released by authorities, came to Mr. Maldonado-Erazo’s custody is a troubling tale of illegal immigration, deportation and the agonizing decision parents have to make about whether to take their children with them or leave them behind.

The toddler’s mother, Wendy Esther Hernandez Reyes, was deported in January. She left her son with her brother, Mr. Maldonado-Erazo, himself an illegal immigrant who has now been indicted in Escambia County, Florida, on a first-degree murder charge stemming from the boy’s abuse and death.

Florida authorities say the 3-year-old died of cardiac arrest connected to the abuse he’d suffered.

Department of Homeland Security officials called the case “absolutely sickening” and said the decision to leave the child belonged entirely to the mother.

“I encourage parents to self-deport with their children, but even if they choose not to do that, ICE gives them the opportunity to be removed with their kids. But despite that option, Reyes chose to leave her son here with a violent murderer who took his life,” Todd Lyons, acting director at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said last month as he revealed the details of the horrifying situation.

ICE said Mr. Maldonado-Erazo entered the U.S in 2021 with his daughter, a Honduran citizen, and they took advantage of Biden-era catch-and-release policies to gain a foothold here. He did not have any other criminal record in the U.S. before last month.

His criminal arrest and that of his wife have left their three children — the youngest two of them U.S. citizens — in the custody of Florida’s Department of Children and Families.

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Emilio Gonzalez, who ran U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services in the George W. Bush administration, said that while it may be difficult for Americans to grasp, the parents who leave their children here have a different mentality about family ties and immigration.

“The idea of leaving your kid behind — it’s the same as sending your child across the border by himself, not knowing what’s going to happen to that child on the other side. I can’t put my head around that,” Mr. Gonzalez told The Washington Times.

Indeed, in many cases the new separation isn’t the first time the parents have made that decision.

In many instances the parents came to the U.S. on their own, then sent for their children later, paying smugglers to bring them along. Other times the adults brought the children with them, taking advantage of the so-called family loophole through which parents who brought children with them received a quick catch-and-release at the border.

That was the case with Mr. Maldonado-Erazo, whose daughter was likely the reason he wasn’t turned back in 2021 under the pandemic-era expulsion policy. Hundreds of thousands of other families did the same thing.

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The problem for them now, however, is that the children are no longer a shield for deportation under the Trump administration. And that forces a choice on parents who are arrested and face deportation.

The Department of Homeland Security declined to provide numbers for how many parents have chosen to take children with them and how many left their children behind.

The most recent data from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement showed 15,725 deportations between Oct. 1 and Feb. 7 in which the individual was deemed part of a family unit. There were 146,467 deportations of just single adults.

“It’s a little concerning to see how many parents make the choice to leave their child behind,” said Jessica Vaughan, policy studies director at the Center for Immigration Studies. “I don’t think enough parents really think it through and understand the risks.”

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She also said immigrant-rights groups prod parents to leave their children here, particularly in cases where the kids are citizens or may be getting some services or benefits.

“Children sometimes become political pawns in the immigration debate,” Ms. Vaughan said.

The Washington Times reached out to eight of those groups that advocate for illegal immigrants, including six that specialize in migrant kids. None would comment for this report.

But they’re grappling with the issue in their own way.

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Kids In Need of Defense last month released a Spanish-language pamphlet for parents deported to Honduras, laying out options for leaving children in the U.S. Among the cautions is to try to find a caregiver who has legal status — which would have avoided the situation Ms. Reyes faced.

KIND also recommended having a backup caregiver in case the first person’s situation changes.

The Women’s Refugee Council, meanwhile, warned parents to keep a low profile if they want their children to remain.

“If your children are undocumented, there is a possibility that ICE could initiate deportation proceedings against them when you draw attention to them. However, this is not very likely if the reason you are informing ICE about them is that you wish for them to leave the country with you,” the group said in a coaching document for deportees.

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Immigration is a complicated legal area and is plagued by misunderstandings by the general public. One of those misunderstandings is a belief that ICE is deporting citizen children against their will, officials said.

The tale of 5-year-old Liam Conejo-Ramos in Minnesota captured the country after ICE took custody of him when it arrested his father and his mother wouldn’t come out of her home to get Liam. ICE said the father chose to have the boy taken with him to a family immigration detention center rather than have Liam go into child protective services.

A judge later ordered the father and son released from immigration detention, accusing the Trump administration of a “perfidious lust for unbridled power.” The Department of Justice last week appealed that ruling.

The department, in a statement to The Washington Times, said when U.S citizen kids leave the country, it’s because their parents decided on that.

“ICE does not separate families,” the DHS said. “Parents have a choice if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates. This is consistent with past administrations’ immigration enforcement.”

The DHS also made a plug for illegal immigrants to leave on their own, using the Customs and Border Protection Home app and taking advantage of a departure payment of $2,600 in addition to a paid ticket home, all courtesy of Uncle Sam.

Scott Mechkowski, former deputy director of ICE’s field office in New York City, said the family cases are among the toughest parts of ICE’s job, though the matter is largely out of their hands.

When a parent is arrested on an immigration warrant, there are only three options, he said: the child goes with the parent when they are deported, the child remains with a relative or friend here, or the child goes into a state’s foster care system.

That’s all dictated by the law, the courts and the parents themselves.

“This is what the courts have decided, not ICE. Deportation is considered a consequence of the parents’ status, and it is not a punishment of the child,” Mr. Mechkowski said. “When the media breaks this story down it’s always ICE, ICE, ICE. No, it’s not ICE. ICE is the mechanism enforcing the laws of the land.”

It’s possible for a parent to plead for leniency, arguing that a U.S. citizen child’s life would become an undue hardship if the parent were deported, but those cases are only sometimes granted, and that’s usually when the child has a particular disability.

Ms. Vaughan said she wanted to see foreign countries’ consulates get more involved in pushing to have their citizen children returned home with their parents.

“That child, to some degree, is their responsibility as a citizen of that country,” she said. “It’s a shame that they’re not stepping up to look after the rights of that kid.”

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.