Some Older Siblings Left Raising Younger Family Members After Parents’ Deportation, Advocates Say

On Aug. 9, Wendy Domingo was driving her parents and her four younger siblings to buy her little brother sneakers for the new school year. It was the first time in months the entire family had been in one car together. Typically, Wendy only drove one of her parents because, although Wendy and her siblings are U.S. citizens, their parents were undocumented and were scared of being detained.

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In the video, after the officer sees the father and daughter hugging, he tells them that he’s not going to deport the parents, but that he will send them to get documents to appear before an immigration judge.

Nevertheless, the parents — Abraham Domingo and Maria Leiva — were detained together in Florida and then later sent to separate detention centers. Leiva was subsequently deported to Guatemala, and Abraham chose to self-deport to avoid prolonged detention.

The Domingo family is one of more than 4 million mixed-status families in the U.S. that contain both citizens and noncitizens, according to several research and immigrant advocacy groups. And Wendy is one of many older siblings who are now taking care of younger family members after their parents’ deportation, advocacy groups said.

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In a statement to ABC News, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security said it does not separate families.

“ICE does not separate families or deport U.S. citizens. Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with a safe person the parent designates,” the spokesperson said. “This is consistent with past administrations’ immigration enforcement.”

The spokesperson said that Abraham Domingo and Maria Leiva “entered the U.S. illegally.” DHS also said Abraham Domingo faced previous domestic violence charges. ABC News confirmed those charges, which were brought in 2024 and were later dropped.

“They were both returned back to their home country of Guatemala,” the DHS spokesperson said. “They chose to leave their minor children in the care of their adult child.”

Blanco said that her group is currently seeing an increase in the number of children who are being left without their parents following their removal. During the current Trump administration, the group has reunited 57 children with families deported to Guatemala, Colombia and El Salvador.

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