ICE protecting us from dangerous aliens

Carolina’s Story: Pre-School Criminal?

Carolina is a five-year-old girl from Honduras. When she was an infant, Carolina’s mother tried to cross with her into the United States, and both were caught and ordered deported. Several years after this initial deportation, Carolina’s mother attempted once again to join her husband in the United States. This time Carolina and her mother crossed the border separately— Carolina by bridge with a false guardian and her mother by river—a common strategy for parents of young children, who wish to protect them from drowning. Both she and her mother were apprehended in the United States and detained separately.

U.S. Immigration authorities realized that Carolina had been ordered removed in the past—as an infant. Immigration agents consider this previous order of removal to mean that Carolina is ineligible to petition for legal immigration status or release to family in the United States. Carolina was placed with the Office of Refugee Resettlement. Unaware of Carolina’s previous order of removal, they reunified the child with her family in the United States.

ICE agents referred to the incident as a “breach of national security.” Given her age and circumstances, however, Carolina was clearly unable to have willingly violated U.S. administrative code in either instance of her entering the country. To hold Carolina accountable
for immigration violations is either inconsistent with the U.S. application of the principle of mens rea, or a violation of the concept that children should not be punished for the crimes of their parents.