Lawmakers press DHS over deportations of U.S. citizen children and court compliance

Democratic members of the House Committee on Homeland Security on May 20 repeatedly pressed Secretary Kristi Noem to explain how the Department of Homeland Security is ensuring due process for people facing removal — including U.S. citizen children who, lawmakers said, were put on planes with detained parents.

Ranking Member Thompson and Representatives Correa, Magaziner and others described cases in which lawyers say parents and guardians were not allowed meaningful access to counsel before removal. Noem replied several times that “the mothers chose to keep their children with them” when returning to their home countries and that DHS “followed the same policies and procedures” it uses to evaluate such cases. She told lawmakers she would provide documentation when available.

Lawmakers cited ICE policy guidance and court orders in their questioning. Representative Magaziner read from what he identified as ICE Directive 11064 (titled in the hearing record as relating to the interests of non‑citizen parents and legal guardians of minor children) and said it requires that parents be afforded the opportunity to consult counsel and make alternative care arrangements before arrest or detention. Magaziner asked whether DHS officers were instructed to ignore that directive; Noem said the department “keeps families together” in many cases and that the department documented procedures in the specific matters referenced.

Committee members also raised the Supreme Court’s April 7 ruling requiring opportunities for hearings before removal in certain cases. Members asked what steps DHS has taken to implement the court’s order and to return individuals to the United States where appropriate. Noem told the panel that DHS “is following all federal judges’ orders” and that the department was using “the due‑process tools that Congress has afforded us.” Several Democrats pressed for evidence backing Noem’s statements and for records documenting whether counsel had access to clients prior to removal in the cited cases.

The hearing included extended discussion about the case of a man identified in questioning as Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Members described a unanimous Supreme Court opinion and asked whether DHS would facilitate his return to the United States for the process the court directed. Noem declined to commit to particular steps in front of the committee, saying that the person “is in his home country” and that appeals to return an individual are matters involving other sovereign governments as well as the department’s legal processes.

Noem and several Republican members framed the department’s actions as enforcement of final orders; Democrats said the committee needed to see the department’s documentation to confirm compliance with statute and court orders. Committee staff accepted multiple documents for the record and will pursue follow‑up written questions and document requests.

Members of both parties asked DHS to supply case files, records of contact with counsel, and the department’s internal documentation showing how parental consent was recorded and reviewed in each case. No formal votes were taken at the hearing.