Key facts
- An eight-year-old Haitian boy was taken into ICE custody in San Diego on November 4 after an immigration appointment.
- Congressman Juan Vargas said on November 9 that the boy's whereabouts are unknown and he is seeking a reunion with relatives.
- The Department of Homeland Security said ICE acted to ensure the child's safety and that the uncle could not prove guardianship.
- DHS called allegations that ICE took the boy into custody to place him in detention false and a smear of its officers.
- Haitian Bridge Alliance said the boy was in the care of his uncle after his father was deported in 2025 and was later moved to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.
An eight-year-old Haitian boy taken into custody by federal immigration authorities in San Diego on November 4 is unaccounted for, according to California Democratic congressman Juan Vargas, who told NBC News on November 9 that he was working to reunite the child with relatives. Video obtained by NBC News showed the boy being led away by three armed officials after his family said he was summoned to what they described as a routine immigration appointment.
The Haitian Bridge Alliance, an immigration advocacy group, said the boy was in the care of his uncle and cousins after his father was deported in 2025. Guerline Jozef, the group's executive director, told NBC that the uncle took the boy to the appointment and that he was later transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, an agency under the Department of Health and Human Services.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson said Immigration and Customs Enforcement took the child into custody "out of an abundance of caution and to ensure the child's safety," and that the uncle was unable to prove legal guardianship. The spokesperson said federal anti-trafficking laws obliged officials to take the boy into care as an "unaccompanied alien child," and that he lacked legal immigration status and was brought to the US by his father, who was later deported to Mexico by Customs and Border Protection.
The spokesperson called allegations that ICE took the boy into custody to place him in detention "false" and a "depraved attempt to smear our ICE law enforcement officers." Vargas said: "Targeting a child, taking them away from their community and classmates, and forcing them into detention is despicable. It is inhumane."
Jozef said the father's deportation left no opportunity to transfer formal legal guardianship to relatives in the US, and that the boy is likely fearful and traumatized. Community leaders, including the board and superintendent of the San Diego Unified School District, wrote to ICE about the impact of the administration's revocation of Temporary Protected Status for Haitians.
Cody Petterson, a trustee of the San Diego Unified School District, told NBC that the best place for the child is with his uncle and caregiver. Jozef said the Haitian community was living "under a cloud of terror" and that the loss of TPS protections was "incredibly painful" for families who had built lives in the US.