The Department of Homeland Security is defending ICE officers who took custody of an 8-year-old Haitian child at an immigration hearing in San Diego last week.
The child had been living with his uncle who brought him to the check-in, according to the San Diego Unified School District where the boy attended school.
But in a statement to Scripps News, the Department of Homeland Security said ICE "confirmed” that the man was not part of the boy's family and was not the child’s legal guardian.
“Out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the child’s safety, ICE determined it was best to remove the child from the household and place him in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement,” DHS said in the statement.
Video of the boy being led away by ICE agents quickly spread online.
RELATED STORY | ICE contractors see green even as blue wave hits Washington
“The immigration officials took the child from the uncle and at that point, that’s when a lot of panic set in,” Sean Elo-Rivera, a San Diego Councilmember, told Scripps News San Diego.
In a letter to the secretaries of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services, the San Diego Unified School District said the child was "having to endure the emotional toll of being separated from their family, the interruption to their schooling and the stability of their daily routine."
The father of the 8-year-old had been blocked from re-entering the U.S. last year after mistakenly entering Mexico while working as a rideshare driver, said Wister Gaetan, a Haitian activist who has been in touch with the family.
“Unfortunately, the simple mistake as an Uber driver crossing into the US-Mexico border, that led to a family separation” Gaetan told Scripps News San Diego.
The Department of Health and Human Services is caring for the child, but has not said where he is being held.
“Due to the U.S.' aggressive enforcement of immigration, we no longer have this boy in school as we speak,” Gaetan said.
RELATED STORY | Trump says deportation crackdown may have gone too far after GOP midterm losses
In an interview with 60 Minutes days after a Republican wipeout in the midterm election, President Trump said his immigration enforcement had been too tough in some cases.
“A lot of people would say that it’s great, but a lot of people think it’s too tough,” Trump said.
A short time later he announced Stephen Miller as his new chief of staff, elevating an adviser who became the driving force behind the immigration crackdown.
