ICE deported Honduran mother and then blamed her for her son's death
The woman claims that she asked for help to reunite with the minor before being sent to Honduras
The case of Wendy Hernández Reyes has sparked outrage among immigration activists and community organizations in the United States. The Honduran immigrant woman was deported by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) in January and, months later, the agency publicly held her responsible for having left her two-year-old son in the care of someone who is now facing murder charges.
The Washington Post reported how Orlín Josué Hernández Reyes died in March in Escambia County, Florida, while remaining in the care of his uncle, Samuel Maldonado Erazo; a heavy drinker who beat his own children with cables and wires, his daughter later testified.
According to local authorities, the little boy had multiple serious injuries, including broken ribs, burns and signs of possible sexual abuse. Maldonado Erazo was formally charged with murder and pleaded not guilty.
After the crime, ICE issued a statement ensuring that the mother “abandoned” her son and that she “chose to leave him with a violent man.” Hernández Reyes rejected the accusations and stated that during his detention he repeatedly asked for help to reunite with the minor.
“How could I abandon my son, if he was the love of my life?” he declared to the aforementioned media. "I did everything for my son. I'm not a bad mother for leaving him with a murderer."
A deportation and a family separation
Hernández Reyes had arrived in the United States in 2022 as an asylum seeker. She was detained in Alabama at the beginning of the year after a traffic check and later handed over to ICE under the immigration cooperation program.
According to her testimony, while detained in Louisiana, she insisted that she did not want to be separated from her son before being deported to Honduras.
"I asked them to help me with my son. I needed it," he said.
The case also reignited debate about the consequences of deportations and family separation. Grace Resendez McCaffery, activist and founder of the Latino Media Gulf Coast site, assured that the tragedy reflects the human impact of immigration policies.
“This is the reality of what it means for a child to lose their parents,” he said.
Currently, activists are raising funds to transport the minor's remains to Honduras.