A 4th Grader Was Detained and Separated from His Dad After an Immigration Check-In in LA — And People Are Outraged
A California fourth grader is facing deportation after an immigration check-in. The news of his detention and imminent deportation has caused outrage in their community in Torrance, California. Parents at the elementary school came together and are demanding information. Torrance Elementary School PTA members want to bring the boy back to California.
A Southern California fourth grader and his father are facing deportation to Honduras
Martir Garcia Lara, 9, and his father, Martir Garcia-Banegas, 50, attended an immigration hearing in downtown Los Angeles. Officials detained the father and son. The California fourth grader was separated from his father. They are both now in a detention center in Texas.
Parents in the Torrance Elementary School PTA are organizing to help the father and son. According to KTLA, the Torrance Elementary PTA president, Jasmin King, activated the parents to demand answers from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“He’s alone and he’s not able to return home,” King told KTLA. She added: “All we know is that Martir is just a fourth-grader who’s by himself, without his dad, without a parent, and just in a place that he probably doesn’t know, so we can only imagine what he might be feeling.”
Teachers first reached out to King and other PTA parents when they learned about the fourth grader’s detention. Many of the parents have pledged legal aid services and financial support for the family in their case.
The Torrance Elementary community is organizing to bring the young boy home
“This event was uncoordinated and did not occur on school grounds. Upon learning of the event, we actively engaged with the family to address the matter,” reads a statement from the Torrance Unified School District. We care deeply about our students, and we have received numerous inquiries about what individuals can do to assist the student and the family. Since this issue is a federal matter, we encourage those of you who have contacted us to share your feedback with elected officials for our area, who include Congressional Representatives, Maxine Waters and Ted Lieu, as well as U.S. Senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff. Every child in our District has a right to education and safety, and we will continue to protect those rights. We will also provide updates should any more information become publicly available.”
The father and son are being held in Texas pending their removal to Honduras, according to an ICE spokesperson. The father and son, according to immigration officials, entered the U.S. on July 10, 2021. Newsweek reports that a judge ordered their removal back to Honduras on Sept. 1, 2022, which the father appealed. A judge dismissed the appeal on August 11, 2023.
Immigration officials argue that the father and son should have self-deported
“Parents, who are here illegally, can take control of their departure with the CBP Home App,” an ICE spokesperson told Newsweek. “The United States is offering aliens $1,000 and a free flight to self-deport now. We encourage every person here illegally to take advantage of this offer and reserve the chance to come back to the U.S. the right, legal way to live the American dream. If not, you will be arrested and deported without a chance to return.”
The Trump administration is facing backlash and legal battles in its attempts to mass deport millions of undocumented people. Garcia Lara is the latest child caught up in the mass deportation efforts.
