A spokeswoman for the Department of Homeland Security, Tricia McLaughlin, said on Sunday that it was common for parents who face deportation to want to be removed with their children, noting that the mother of the 2-year-old had made that choice.

Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar, insisted Sunday that the Trump administration did not “deport” American children to Honduras — arguing that the White House sent the children to the country because their mothers,