\u201cWe are calling for the immediate return of this young man and his family,\u201d Thurmond said. \u201cThis is a student who needs access to medical devices, hearing aids, and he needs to be in a program where he can receive support and care \u2014 not in some detention center, not in some cell living in squalor and poor conditions.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nikolas De Bremaeker, an attorney with Centro Legal De La Raza, said that in the days since their arrest, advocates have been trying to locate the family and have been misled about their whereabouts by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were told at every point that the family was at a different location, and even up to last night when I spoke with ICE, they told me a different location than where they actually were,\u201d he told reporters. \u201cThis is no way for a democracy to work. This is a complete obstruction of access to council.\u201d<\/p>\n On Friday, De Bremaeker said he was able to speak with Rodriguez Gutierrez and confirm that she and her sons were deported to Colombia. Gutierrez migrated to the U.S from Colombia four years ago. She had no criminal record, according to De Bremaeker.<\/p>\n De Bremaeker said that when they were arrested, another family member was located outside of the ICE office on 478 Tehama St. in San Francisco with the medical equipment that Rodriguez Gutierrez\u2019s son needed, but was prevented from delivering it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s inhumane, it\u2019s illegal, and it\u2019s unconstitutional for this to happen,\u201d he said Friday, adding that sign language in Colombia is different from the American Sign Language that the young student had been learning here. The child attends the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, and had been homesick on Tuesday.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s incredibly cruel to rip a child, as they are thriving and not only using the assistive devices that they need \u2026 out of this incredibly brave and strong progress that he has made,\u201d De Bremaeker said.<\/p>\n On Friday, Thurmond called on Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Oklahoma, President Donald Trump\u2019s newly announced nominee for Homeland Security secretary, to demand the family\u2019s return.<\/p>\n \u201cLesly did exactly what the government asked of her \u2014 she showed up to a scheduled immigration check-in in good faith and instead was taken away into custody along with her children,\u201d said Jeannette Zanipatin, director of policy, advocacy and litigation at the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles. \u201cThat is not enforcement. It is plain cruelty.\u201d<\/p>\n KQED\u2019s <\/em>Ayah Ali-Ahmad<\/em><\/a> contributed to this report.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.kqed.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2026\/03\/260306-CHILD-DEPORTATION-02-KQED.jpg\")