A US woman has accused Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of deporting her without her two-year-old son months before the child was brutally killed. ICE later blamed the mother for leaving the child behind.
The Honduran woman, Wendy Hernandez Reyes, said she begged US authorities not to send her back to Honduras without her son, Orlin Josue Hernandez Reyes, but was deported alone in January, according to The Washington Post.
The two-year-old, Orlin Josue Hernandez Reyes, later died in Escambia County, Florida, in March while living with his uncle.
According to officials, the child suffered multiple broken ribs, a transected pancreas, burns on his body, and signs of possible sexual abuse. His uncle was later arrested on murder allegations.
After the child's death, ICE, in a press release, said that Wendy had "abandoned" her son and "chose to leave her son here with a violent murderer who took his life."
"This little boy suffered extensively and died when his mother abandoned him to Maldonado-Erazo's 'care' and Maldonado-Erazo himself is an illegal alien who never should've been in this country in the first place," ICE said.
"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," said ICE Director Todd M Lyons.
However, the mother denied the claims, saying she begged authorities to reunite her with the boy before she was deported. "How could I abandon my son, if my son was the love of my life?" she told the outlet. "I did everything with my son. I am not a bad mother who left my child with a killer."
Wendy was travelling with her sister in Alabama in January when police stopped their car on the way to work, where she laid concrete foundations.
The Baldwin County Sheriff's Office later handed her over to ICE because it works with federal immigration authorities under a program called 287(g), which allows local police to help enforce immigration laws.
ICE then took Hernandez to a detention centre in Louisiana. Officials said a judge had already ordered her deportation because she missed an immigration court hearing after arriving in the US in 2022 and applying for asylum. "I told them to help me with my boy. I needed him," she told The Post.
"I did everything with my son. I am not a bad mother who left my child with a killer," she added.
