JESSICA VAUGHAN: 13-yr-old Honduran boy in immigration court. Asked why he couldn’t go back to Honduras, he told judge, “My mom & almost my entire family are here." So why didn't mom come to imm court w/him? Bc then they don't get the headline "Kids Alone in Imm Court!"

And there is it ladies and gentlemen! Read this tweet from my friend @JessicaV_CIS . This is exactly the way it happens daily ! https://t.co/DGildgAZpr

— Scott Mechkowski (@ScottMechkowski) September 30, 2026

13-yr-old Honduran boy in immigration court. Asked why he couldn’t go back to Honduras, he told judge, “My mom & almost my entire family are here." So why didn't mom come to imm court w/him? Bc then they don't get the headline "Kids Alone in Imm Court!" 

13-yr-old Honduran boy in immigration court. Asked why he couldn’t go back to Honduras, he told judge, “My mom & almost my entire family are here." So why didn't mom come to imm court w/him? Bc then they don't get the headline "Kids Alone in Imm Court!" https://t.co/Gn6beF3uuG

— Jessica Vaughan (@JessicaV_CIS) September 30, 2026

Here is Priscilla Alvarez with Erin Burnett.

CNN is granted access inside an immigration court hearing where dozens of children facing deportation, some as young as three years old, appealed to stay in the United States. Many of them facing the judge without an attorney representing them. pic.twitter.com/3SZselDAbq

— Erin Burnett OutFront (@OutFrontCNN) September 29, 2026

from Priscilla Alvarez @ CNN,

Most of the children, dressed formally with neatly styled hair, waited impatiently for the judge. Among the first to appear before the judge was a 13-year-old Honduran boy named Angel. He didn’t have an attorneY. 

Asked whether there was a reason he couldn’t return to Honduras, Angel told the judge, “My mom and almost my entire family are here. It’s too dangerous to go back.”

But that wasn’t enough for the judge, who told the boy he did not qualify for asylum. “Would you like to request voluntary departure, or should I issue a removal order?” The judge asked. 

“I don’t know,” Angel replied before bursting into tears. He stared ahead stoically and continued to cry, eventually saying: “I have no one. I have nothing.”

“I understand, but based on your answers, US immigration laws are very strict,” the judge concluded, and gave Angel until the end of the month to appeal his deportation order. 

SCOTT MECHKOWSKI: We should also call things by their proper names. Issuing work-authorization workarounds, or declining to pursue people with final orders of removal, are just amnesty by other names.

My latest article , please read and spread far and wide .

🚨🚨Voters were not confused about what they were choosing in 2024. "Mass deportation" was not a line buried in a white paper. It was printed on signs, chanted at rallies, and repeated by the candidate himself. Americans…

— Scott Mechkowski (@ScottMechkowski) September 30, 2026

excerpts from Mechkowski's article.

Removals are a pipeline: locating the person, arresting him, detaining him, getting a final order through an overwhelmed court system, and putting him on a plane. The pipeline moves only as fast as its narrowest point.

Consider what happens after an arrest. Many people assume a deportation is nearly complete once an officer puts someone in handcuffs. In reality, the foreign government has to be notified, and it has to confirm the person's identity and issue a travel document. Some countries turn those documents around quickly, while others slow-walk them or refuse outright.

Every day of delay is a day in a detention bed that could hold someone else, and if the wait runs long enough, the person may have to be released back into the community. Even when the document arrives, the flight still has to be coordinated, whether that is a seat on a commercial flight with escorting officers or a spot on a charter that has to be filled and scheduled. 

We should also call things by their proper names. Issuing work-authorization workarounds, or declining to pursue people with final orders of removal, are just amnesty by other names. Every one of these moves is a message to the world that American immigration law is negotiable if you wait long enough.

Regardless of how it is covered, a substantial share of Americans support mass deportation. The Harvard CAPS/Harris poll surveyed 1,725 registered voters from May 29 to 30, 2026, with a margin of error of ±2.4 points. It found that 80% support deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have committed crimes, up five points from 75% in April. That includes 71% of Democrats, 90% of Republicans, and 79% of independents.

They are not asking for cruelty. They are asking for a system that works, one with no amnesty, no fraud, and no exemptions for the well-connected.

Here is what keeping the promise would look like: mandatory E-Verify for every employer, funding for detention capacity and fugitive operations that matches the stated goal, worksite enforcement without industry carve-outs, and immigration judges and attorneys to clear a backlog that currently stretches for years.