New Information Reveals 6-Year-Old Deaf Student Was Deported Under False Pretenses; State Superintendent Thurmond Sounds Alarm Regarding Child’s Wellbeing

SACRAMENTO—Last week, Joseph Andrey Londono Rodriguez, a six-year-old Deaf student with disabilities who was enrolled at the California School for the Deaf, Fremont, at the time of his detention, was detained and deported without critical assistive devices and without due process. Now, the California Department of Education (CDE) has learned his detention and deportation occurred under false pretenses.

Nikolas De Bremaeker, an attorney for the boy’s mother, Lesly Rodriguez Gutierrez, said, “Ahead of the check-in, Ms. Rodriguez Gutierrez was told she needed to bring her two children to renew the photos ICE has on record for them. At the routine check-in, ICE at no point explained to Ms. Rodriguez Gutierrez what was happening to them. ICE agents took their photos and fingerprints, tried to force her to sign a document without explanation, and then pushed the family into a vehicle to be put on a flight to a faraway detention facility, all within minutes.”

“Throughout this hurried process,” said De Bremaeker, “Ms. Rodriguez Gutierrez was pleading with ICE agents to allow her to get the assistive devices her Deaf six-year-old child Joseph desperately needs. Her family member was in a car right outside and would have been able to bring Joseph the devices before he was dragged around the country and deported… In a fundamental violation of the family’s due process rights, ICE then misled our team at every turn regarding the family’s whereabouts and refused to grant Ms. Rodriguez Gutierrez access to counsel. In doing so, ICE prevented us from submitting the necessary emergency filings in the appropriate jurisdiction.”

Rodriguez Gutierrez and her two children are asylum seekers from Colombia who came to the United States fleeing domestic violence. While her child was enrolled at the California School for the Deaf in Fremont, Ms. Rodriguez Gutierrez resided in Hayward and worked as a cleaner and child care worker. She has no criminal record.

Following this new information about the circumstances of Joseph’s deportation, State Superintendent Tony Thurmond issued the following statement:

“The more we learn about the circumstances of Joseph’s deportation, the more disturbing it gets. No child should be brought to court under false pretenses and disappeared to a country where their family is at risk of violence. And for Joseph, who was unable to fully understand and communicate even with his mother, this experience was made even more traumatic and unnecessarily cruel.

"As Americans, we must be better than this. Joseph’s mother is an asylum seeker fleeing domestic violence with no criminal record.

"In California, she did hard, honest work as a cleaner and a child care worker. In California, she strove to make a better life for her children, ensuring that her Deaf child finally had access to opportunities to listen, speak, and learn.

"We must make this right and return this family to their school community, and we must end the vile cruelty that this administration has unleashed on our neighbors simply because of where they were born, the language they speak, or the color of their skin.

"I am actively working with members of Congress to pursue every available avenue to return Joseph to his school community here in California, where he can once again learn in American Sign Language (ASL), the only language her son knows.”

De Bremaeker shared that Ms. Gutierrez Rodriguez has been learning ASL alongside her son in order to communicate with him, but neither mother nor son currently has the ASL vocabulary to explain or understand what has happened to them.

As a result of this deeply traumatic experience, Gutierrez Rodriguez has seen a significant change in her child’s demeanor and is worried about his health.

“[Ms. Gutierrez Rodriguez] is very worried about [Joseph’s] health,” said De Bremaeker. “His demeanor has shifted entirely since arriving in Colombia. He has all but stopped eating… she has never seen him like this before. He is heartbroken, has fully withdrawn, and seems lost. He misses his friends, and nobody other than mom or brother knows any sign language. No friends, no teachers, no community members whom he can relate to. He feels cut off from the world.”

Superintendent Thurmond has reiterated his call for the federal government to return Joseph, his mother, and little brother to the United States, where he can rejoin his Deaf school community and where his family can be safe from violence.

“The callousness and cruelty of this administration must end,” said Superintendent Thurmond.

Last Friday, March 6, Superintendent Thurmond held a press conference including DeBremaeker. That press conference can be viewed on the CDE Facebook page .

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Tony Thurmond — State Superintendent of Public Instruction
Communications Division, Room 5602, 916-319-0818, Fax 916-319-0100