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SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — East Bay Representative Eric Swalwell is calling on Congress to force the Department of Homeland Security to return a deported mother and her two children to the Bay Area.
Last week, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez was deported to Colombia with her two young children, including a 4-year-old and a deaf 6-year-old.
It happened during a routine check-in at the San Francisco immigration office.
Her lawyer says the family was forced to sign deportation papers and was not allowed to retrieve a hearing device for 6-year-old Joseph, who attends the California School for the Deaf in Fremont.
MORE: CA official calling on Trump admin. to return deaf Bay Area boy, his family deported to Colombia
Congressman Swalwell held a press conference on Monday to give an update on the family.
“As we stand here, my staff has just landed in Colombia and is placing the hearing devices back in the boy’s ear,” Rep. Swalwell said. “To the child we have returned his sound, but to our nation, what has happened to our soul.”
Swalwell wants Congress to launch hearings into abuses by ICE and to violations of due process.
“If you want to deport a cartel boss, everyone here will help you pack their bags,” he said. “But if you’re coming for a 6-year-old, you have to go through us…How does ruining the life of a 6-year-old deaf child make our community or our country any safer? It doesn’t, it makes the country darker.”
In a statement, Homeland Security says the family had a deportation order from 2024, and the mother was given a choice to be deported with her children.
On Sunday, the lawyer fired back, saying, “ICE pressured her to sign a document in a language she did not understand” and “put her on a flight to a faraway detention center, all within minutes.”
He added: “In a move that shocks the conscience … ICE denied Joseph the assistive devices he needs to live.”
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