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Trump border czar defends removal of U.S. citizen children

Published

2 months ago

April 29, 2025

virginiamercury.com – Ariana Figueroa – 2025-04-29 04:49:00

by Ariana Figueroa, Virginia Mercury
April 29, 2025

WASHINGTON — White House border czar Tom Homan on Monday blamed the parents of U.S. citizen children the Trump administration sent to Honduras over the weekend.

At a Monday morning press conference, Homan defended the government’s actions to remove three young children from two different families alongside their mothers who were in the country without legal authorization but participated in a program that allows otherwise law-abiding migrants to stay in their communities.

“If you enter this country illegally, it’s a crime,” Homan said. “Knowing you’re in this country illegally, you put yourself in that position. You put your family in that position.”

The children, all under the age of 10, were placed on deportation flights to Honduras on Friday after their mothers checked in with a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Orleans as part of the Intensive Supervision Appearance Program, which allows immigrants to stay in their communities while undergoing immigration court proceedings.

An attorney for one of the children, Gracie Willis at the National Immigration Project, said the 4-year-old U.S. citizen with Stage 4 cancer was deported without access to his medication.

Homan has argued the mothers requested to be deported with their children, but attorneys for the families argue they were “denied access to legal counsel, and swiftly deported without due process.”

Due process concerns

U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, whom Trump appointed to a seat on the Louisiana federal bench in 2018, expressed concern that a 2-year-old U.S. citizen had been deported, despite her father’s wishes she remain in the U.S., according to court filings.

Doughty scheduled a May 16 hearing because of his “strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”

“The government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” Doughty wrote in his order. “But the court doesn’t know that.”

Willis, from the National Immigration Project, raised concerns about a lack of due process and how the deportations have separated families.

“What we saw from ICE over the last several days is horrifying and baffling,” she said in a statement. “These mothers had no opportunity to speak with their co-parents to make the kinds of choices that parents are entitled to make for their children, the kinds of decisions that millions of parents make every day: ‘what is best for our child?’”

Homan has argued the children were deported at the request of the mothers and that the Trump administration was “keeping families together.”

“What we did is remove children with their mothers who requested their children depart with them,” he said. “When a parent says, ‘I want my 2-year-old baby to go with me,’ we made that happen. They weren’t deported. We don’t deport U.S. citizens. The parents made that decision, not the United States government.”

Wisconsin judge

Monday’s remarks from Homan come the day before President Donald Trump will mark the 100th day of his second term. His early days in office have centered on carrying out his campaign promise of mass deportations of millions of people in the U.S. without permanent legal status.

Trump will sign two executive orders on immigration late Monday: one relating to border security and another to require the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to publicly list so-called sanctuary cities that do not coordinate with federal immigration law enforcement.

Homan also stood by the Trump administration’s decision to arrest a federal judge in Wisconsin on the grounds she obstructed immigration officials from detaining a man attending his court hearing. It marked an escalation between the Trump administration and the judiciary branch, raising concerns from Democrats.

The arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan was highly publicized after she was handcuffed in public and FBI Director Kash Patel bragged about the arrest on social media.

Attorney General Pam Bondi said on Fox News that the Trump administration was going to continue to go after judges who “think they’re above the law.”

“When you cross that line to impediment or knowingly harboring, concealing an illegal alien from ICE, you will be prosecuted, judge or not,” Homan said.

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com.

The post Trump border czar defends removal of U.S. citizen children appeared first on virginiamercury.com

Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.

Political Bias Rating: Center-Right

The content presents a primarily center-right perspective, as it highlights the Trump administration’s strict immigration policies and defends actions such as the deportation of children along with their mothers. It emphasizes law enforcement’s rationale for these actions and includes comments from Trump-appointed officials, reinforcing a conservative viewpoint. However, the article also includes substantial criticism from legal experts, advocates, and a federal judge expressing concerns about due process and family separation. These critiques introduce a more balanced view, leading to a center-right bias rather than a strictly right-wing stance.

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News from the South - Virginia News Feed

FBI, DOJ release 11 hours of Epstein jail video, say he died by suicide and no ‘client list’ found

Published

16 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Staff Editor

www.youtube.com – 13News Now – 2025-07-07 12:02:28

SUMMARY: The FBI and Justice Department released 11 hours of jail footage confirming Jeffrey Epstein died by suicide in his Manhattan cell in 2019 while awaiting trial. Investigators found no one entered Epstein’s area overnight before his death. Crucially, no client list or credible evidence of blackmail involving prominent individuals was uncovered. Despite years of conspiracy theories, the investigation found no grounds to pursue uncharged third parties. Attorney General Pam Bondi reviewed the files under a directive from President Trump. Elon Musk once hinted at explosive information in the files but later retracted his statements. President Trump denies ties to Epstein.

The FBI and DOJ say new jail video confirms Epstein died by suicide in 2019 and shows no evidence of a blackmail “client list” or wrongdoing by others.

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News from the South - Virginia News Feed

One Good Thing: Babe Ruth League State champs

Published

16 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Staff Editor

www.youtube.com – 12 On Your Side – 2025-07-07 11:37:49

SUMMARY: The Glen Allen 12-year-old All-Star team won the Babe Ruth League State Tournament this weekend. Curt Autry congratulated the team and wished them well on his Facebook page. The team’s victory is celebrated as a significant achievement, marking them as state champions in the Babe Ruth League. Community members and supporters expressed excitement and pride for the young players’ success in the tournament. This accomplishment highlights the dedication and talent of the Glen Allen team, bringing positive recognition to their hard work and teamwork throughout the competition.

Congrats to Glen Allen’s 12-year-old All-Star team!

For more Local News from WWBT: https://www.12onyourside.com/
For more YouTube Content: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh-MRi3cyDN0DO1AvvVYFlg

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News from the South - Virginia News Feed

After Potomac crash, Norfolk touts airspace as coordinated and safe

Published

24 hours ago

July 7, 2025

Staff Editor

virginiamercury.com – Nathaniel Cline – 2025-07-07 04:22:00

by Nathaniel Cline, Virginia Mercury
July 7, 2025

As scrutiny of flight safety intensifies nationwide, Norfolk International Airport officials say their shared airspace remains “safe,” thanks to close coordination with commercial airlines and military partners.

Questions about Norfolk’s airspace surfaced after a January collision between an American Airlines Bombardier jet and an Army Black Hawk helicopter over the Potomac River. The crash, which killed all 64 people on board the jet, occurred as the plane prepared to land at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport.

Reagan operates under restricted airspace to prevent aircraft from flying near high-risk areas and must accommodate heavy military and government air traffic. It’s located near the Pentagon, the White House, and Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling.

Like Reagan, Norfolk works closely with the military — especially the Navy and Air Force — to manage constrained airspace and ensure helicopter traffic remains safely separated from its commercial runways.

“I think we are in a better situation,” said Mark Perryman, president and CEO of Norfolk International Airport, at the May 15 meeting with leaders in Hampton. “We’re not quite as congested (as DCA), although we do have a very congested airspace for an airport in a region our size, given all of the military installations, but it’s something that we have very good cooperation with the DoD and the FAA. We are safe.”

Perryman told the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization (HRTPO) that Norfolk has earned a reputation as one of the best domestic airports, expanding its nonstop flight offerings significantly over the past decade.

Del. Bonita Anthony, D-Norfolk, who sits on the HRTPO, acknowledged the heightened public interest in aviation safety. She said Norfolk’s advantage lies in the region’s long-standing civil-military coordination — something that travelers should take comfort in.

“Our airspace is safe because Hampton Roads has the strongest records of civil and military coordination in the country,” Anthony told The Mercury.

She pointed to efforts in the 1990s to install advanced radar systems and transfer control tower operations as examples of the region’s aviation leadership. Anthony, who served on the engineering team at the time, described the transfer process as intense and technically complex.

Perryman also addressed helicopter traffic in the airspace north of Norfolk’s Runway 5/23. Unlike Reagan Airport, where helicopters operate closer to the flight paths, military choppers in Norfolk fly farther north, over the Chesapeake Bay.

That distance provides “far greater vertical separation,” said airport spokesman Chris Jones — several hundred feet more than what’s typical in airspace near DCA.

In May, the FAA reduced the size of three designated helicopter operating areas near Norfolk’s approach paths, further enhancing safety.

Norfolk International Airport, originally a military field, has operated for 85 years. Within 20-miles are three military installations with runways used for fixed-wing aircraft: Naval Station Norfolk Chambers Field, Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach, and Joint Base Langley-Eustis on the peninsula in Hampton.

Virginia Beach’s Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story lacks a runway but supports military helicopter traffic, Jones said.

With multiple facilities nearby and Newport News operating its own commercial airport, Hampton Roads remains a “busy region for aviation,” Jones noted, emphasizing the importance of continued collaboration.

“In a region with so many airports and air bases, this is to be expected,” Jones said. “Despite this, the conditions and practices now in place are such that they do not elicit safety concerns for travelers or military aviators.”

$5 million headed to Virginia airports

Seven airports in Virginia are set to receive a combined grant total of $5 million to support infrastructure improvements. The grants come through the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Federal Aviation Administration Airport Infrastructure Grant program.

U.S. Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner, D-Va., have long supported improving Virginia’s airports.

“Investing in our airports means investing in safety, connectivity, and economic opportunity for communities across the Commonwealth,” said in a joint statement on June 27. “We’re proud to support these improvements that will help ensure Virginia’s airports continue to serve travelers and local economies for years to come.”

The grant awards

$2,948,555 to the Roanoke Regional Airport Commission to upgrade taxiways B, B1, B2, B3, and B4 at the Roanoke Regional Airport;

$730,000 to the City of Suffolk to expand the terminal apron Suffolk Executive Airport to allow for a wider variety of aircrafts;

$661,200 to the Chesapeake Airport Authority to remove trees obstructing operations at the Chesapeake Regional Airport;

$260,000 to the County of Halifax to install runway end identifier lights and a precision approach path indicator system at Halifax Stanfield International Airport;

$190,000 to the Town of Farmville to reconstruct the precision approach path indicator system for Runway 3/21 at Farmville Regional Airport;

$159,000 to the Dinwiddie County Airport and Industrial Authority to construct a new hanger for aircraft storage at Dinwiddie County Airport;

$110,000 to the Town of Tangier to reseal taxiway and apron pavement prolonging their lifespan at Tangier Island Airport.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.

The post After Potomac crash, Norfolk touts airspace as coordinated and safe appeared first on virginiamercury.com

Political Bias Rating: Centrist

This content presents information about Norfolk International Airport and related federal funding in a straightforward, factual manner without evident partisan framing. It highlights aviation safety, collaboration between military and civilian entities, and infrastructure investment supported by Democratic Senators Tim Kaine and Mark Warner. The coverage emphasizes practical concerns like safety and economic development rather than ideological viewpoints, maintaining a neutral tone appropriate for a broad audience. Thus, the overall presentation aligns with a centrist perspective.