Mom, 3 children detained by ICE and taken to Texas being returned to New York, officials say

A mother and her three children who were detained last month in northern New York state and taken to Texas were being returned to New York, officials said Monday. 

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who had criticized the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency’s decision to detain the family as “just plain cruel,” said she was informed of the family’s return to the state by President Trump’s “border czar” Tom Homan.

“I cannot imagine the trauma these kids and their mom are feeling, and I pray they will be able to heal when they return home,” Hochul said in a statement.

Hochul identified the three children as a third grader and two teenagers. Advocates said the family’s case had been working its way through the U.S. immigration system, and their detainment by ICE in late March prompted outcry in the New York community near the U.S.-Canada border.

“New York has been consistent: we are open to working with federal immigration enforcement to crack down on gang members or violent criminals. But I will never support cruel actions that rip kids out of school or tear families apart,” Hochul said.

The family’s detainment and subsequent reaction came as the Trump administration carries out its controversial immigration crackdown throughout the country.

Federal agents carried out the New York operation March 27 at a dairy farm in the town of Hounsfield, according to CBS affiliate WWNY-TV. Homan later told the station authorities were looking for a South African man who was facing federal charges of distribution of child pornography. WWNY-TV reported eight people, including the family, were detained when authorities swept the area around the farm, according to officials.

New York state Assemblyman Scott Gray, who represents the area, said in a statement Monday that the family was released after a “follow-up with ICE witness coordinator and investigative interview with the case agent in charge of the investigation.”

“ICE has made an independent decision to release the family while the criminal investigation continues to be conducted,” Gray said.

ICE didn’t immediately respond to CBS News’ request for comment.

An immigrant advocacy group, the New York Immigration Coalition, said the mother and her children were sent to a detention facility in Texas after they were detained. The group didn’t identify the mother or her children, but its leader said their case had been working its way through the system.

“We are supposed to live in a nation of laws, but while this family was correctly navigating the immigration system and attending their immigration court hearings, they were instead taken by ICE agents and sent thousands of miles away from their home and community,” Murad Awawdeh, the coalition’s president and CEO, said in a statement in the days following their detainment.