San Diego, California: Lawmakers Demand Answers After ICE Takes Haitian Third Grader, 8, Into Federal Custody

Six members of Congress from California demanded answers from the Trump administration on Tuesday after immigration officers took an 8 year old Haitian boy into federal custody at a scheduled check-in in San Diego last week.

Representatives Juan Vargas, Sara Jacobs, Mike Levin and Scott Peters, along with Senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, wrote to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They asked for confirmation of the child's whereabouts, whether his family knows where he is, and what steps the agencies are taking to reunite him with his family. They asked for an update by Dec. 1.

What happened at the check-in

The boy is a third grader at Fay Elementary School in the City Heights neighborhood of San Diego. He had lived with his uncle since his father was deported, and he lost Temporary Protected Status when the administration ended the designation for Haitians earlier this year, according to the school district and the lawmakers.

A letter summoned the boy to meet an immigration officer. His uncle brought him to the appointment because he did not want to break the law, San Diego Unified School District officials said. The lawmakers dated the incident Nov. 5. District officials said they believed it happened on Nov. 4.

Once there, the boy was taken into custody. The lawmakers wrote that an ICE officer reportedly invoked the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008, and that video footage appears to show a child who posed no threat being placed in restraints.

Two accounts of the custody decision

The Department of Homeland Security disputes the school district's account. A spokesperson told the USA TODAY Network that claims ICE took a third grader into custody to place him in detention are false. The department said a man claiming to be the child's uncle brought him to the check-in, that officers could not confirm he was part of either family unit the boy had been living with, and that he could not establish legal guardianship.

"Out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the child's safety, ICE determined it was best to remove the child from the household and place him in the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement," the spokesperson said. The department classified the boy as an unaccompanied minor. The refugee office, which runs shelters for migrant children, has not commented on his case, and his family did not know where he was being held as of Monday, according to Vargas's office.

The school responds

San Diego Unified sent crisis counselors to Fay Elementary after the boy's classmates expressed fear for their friend. District leaders, a city councilmember and education union leaders wrote to Mullin and Kennedy on Nov. 6 asking the government to keep placed children close to their home schools, to work with districts before relocation decisions, and to track the schooling of children in federal custody.

"When families are suddenly separated, displaced, detained, or removed from their communities, schools are often left to respond to the resulting trauma and educational disruption," the district leaders wrote.

As of Nov. 5, 1,620 children were in the custody of the Department of Health and Human Services as unaccompanied minors, according to agency data cited by USA TODAY. The boy's name has not been released.