LOS ANGELES — "What was the sin?" asked Rep. Eric Swallwell on Monday, decrying the deportation of a 6-year-old deaf boy and his family when they showed up for a "routine immigration check."

The California Democrat said that his staff had traveled to Colombia to return hearing aids to the boy. According to his family's attorney, Nikolas De Bremaeker, the boy was separated from the medical devices during the deportation process.

Swalwell's staff is now working with De Bremaeker to try to return the family to the U.S. on humanitarian parole and re-enroll 6-year-old Joseph in the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, he announced Monday at a news conference in Hayward.

The Department of Homeland Security has stood by its decision to deport the family. A department spokesperson said in a statement Friday that the mother, 28-year-old Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, was "an illegal alien from Colombia" who "illegally entered the United States in 2022 and was RELEASED into our country under the Biden administration." She was issued a removal order on Nov. 25, 2024, according to the spokesperson.

Rodriguez Gutierrez was under a supervisory order and required to periodically check in with an immigration officer or face deportation for failing to report, according to De Bremaeker. Last week, she believed she was showing up for a regular check-in with her 4- and 6-year-old children when the three of them were deported, he said.

De Bremaeker said he was then given misleading information about the family's location, which he alleged violated their due process and limited his ability to try to legally intervene and block the deportation.

The case first drew widespread attention Friday when De Bremaeker and state Superintendent of Public Instruction Tony Thurmond held a news conference in Los Angeles. Thurmond, who is running for governor, expressed outrage over the boy's deportation and said he'd reached out to Swalwell's office for support.

Then on Monday, Swalwell, who represents the Northern California community of Hayward where the family lived, condemned the boy's deportation while taking a swing at the Trump administration's immigration agenda.

"If you want to deport a cartel boss, everyone here will help you pack their bags, but if you're coming for a 6-year-old, you have to go through us," said Swalwell, who is also running for governor.

Swalwell said he is working with California Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff and Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, to look at "what steps can be taken in Congress to ensure this will not happen again." He referenced an instance where a child with stage 4 cancer was deported as evidence of Immigration and Customs Enforcement's "inhumane deportation policies."

In a Friday statement, the DHS spokesperson said that "ICE does NOT separate families. Parents are given a choice: They can be removed with their children or place them with a safe person they designate." The spokesperson said that Rodriguez Gutierrez chose to be removed with her children on March 5.

Swalwell said his staff would do everything they could to return the family to America.

"How does ruining the life of a 6-year-old deaf child make our community or our country any safer?" he said. "It doesn't. It makes the country darker."

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—Times staff writer Christopher Buchanan contributed to this report.

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