Trump Admin Deports 2-Year-Old Girl Who is American Citizen
Manu’s parents were undocumented, but she was born in the United States.
A two-year-old American girl has been left stateless after the Trump administration deported her and her family.
Emanuelle Borges Santos, known to her family as Manu, was born in a Florida hospital in 2022. She has a U.S. passport and a Social Security card. However, Manu and her parents, both undocumented, were crammed onto a plane with 94 other people and taken to Brazil in February, according to a report in the Washington Post.
Upon arrival, Brazilian authorities were shocked to find the American child among those deported.
“We’ve never seen a case like this,” said Federal Police agent Alexandra Oliveira Medeiros Reis to the Washington Post.
Manu is currently living in Brazil on a tourist visa while the government works to resolve the bureaucratic impasse surrounding her citizenship. Meanwhile, she lives without access to healthcare or education in Brazil. Her visa expires in a few weeks.
Manu doesn’t meet the requirements for Brazilian citizenship, so the country is asking for a new status: a “temporary” one that would expire when she turns 18.
Meanwhile, her parents are worried.
“What if we have to take her to the doctor?” her mother, Elioni Gonsalves, asked the Washington Post.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security told The Daily Beast that in cases like Manu’s, parents have a choice about their children’s fate.
“The media and Democratic politicians are spreading false information that U.S. citizen children are being deported,” said Tricia McLaughlin, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Homeland Security. “This is false and irresponsible. Parents are asked if they want their children deported or if Immigration and Customs Enforcement will release them to a person they designate.”
Manu’s parents, however, say they had no choice.
“They simply deported us,” said her father, Edvan Borges dos Santos.
This is not the first time American children have been victims of President Donald Trump’s campaign to mass deport undocumented immigrants during his second term.
Last month, three American citizens — ages two, four, and seven — were sent to Honduras with their undocumented parents. One of the children had cancer and was transferred without treatment.
The U.S. Department of Justice is currently awaiting the Supreme Court’s ruling on the constitutionality of his executive order, issued on his first day in office, ending birthright citizenship. If the court rules in his favor, the government will be able to more easily deport children like Manu.
Manu’s parents told the Washington Post they applied for asylum in the United States in 2021 after fleeing violence and corruption in Brazil. While their case was being heard in Florida, Borges (the father) worked in construction, and the family settled into a quiet American life.
Although a judge stayed their deportation after Manu’s birth in December 2022, the family was summoned by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They were forced to sign forms they didn’t understand and were immediately deported.
The family’s lawyer was furious after learning what had happened. She told the Washington Post, speaking on condition of anonymity:
“The U.S. government is deporting its own citizen.”
Manu leads a relatively secluded life in Poté, a rural town not far from the Brazilian coast, where she spends most of her days with her mother and grandparents.
“She rarely sees other children,” her mother said.
