On April 28, immigration officers arrested a Venezuelan father and his 11-year-old son outside their home in El Paso, Texas. The boy — identified in federal court records as J.R.C.A. — stayed with his father for several hours before being separated near midnight. The father, Jesús Eduardo Reyes Hermes, went to adult detention at Camp East Montana on Fort Bliss. The boy was transferred to the Office of Refugee Resettlement.

Mother Jones ran with "kidnapped."

The federal docket — JRCA Minor Child v. Salazar — tells a different story. The boy's stepmother, identified only as Mariana, filed a sponsorship application to take custody. Then she withdrew it. The reason, per court records: she lacked a taxpayer identification number required under 45 CFR § 410.1202 to complete the background check and suitability assessment. No approved sponsor. No parent or legal guardian available. The federal judge reviewed the file and ruled ORR had no legal authority to release the child to an unapproved adult.

That's the "kidnapping" liberals are alleging. A federal agency following the federal regulations that exist specifically to prevent children from being handed to adults who haven't cleared a background check.

The father entered the United States with his son in 2023. On February 5, 2025, the Trump administration terminated the Venezuela TPS designation that had provided Reyes Hermes temporary legal status. By April 28, 2026, he was subject to enforcement. After his arrest, he was held until June 24, when he was released on $5,000 bond — with a negative credible-fear determination already on his record. His asylum claim was denied. By July, an immigration judge approved voluntary departure. In August, the boy traveled to Barcelona, Venezuela.

The boy's biological mother lives in Colombia. She wasn't in the United States. Mariana, who lived with the father and a younger child, couldn't complete the federal sponsorship process. So the question the media never bothered to ask: who, exactly, was ICE supposed to release this child to?

The numbers make the question sharper. Between 2021 and 2024, approximately 479,000 unaccompanied children were referred to ORR. In fiscal year 2024, HHS denied less than 1% of sponsor applications. The system isn't built to keep kids locked up. It approved virtually everyone who applied and qualified. Mariana didn't qualify. She withdrew her own application.

Mother Jones framed this as a snatch-and-grab by jackbooted agents. The court record shows an 11-year-old whose stepmother couldn't pass the sponsorship requirements and whose father was in removal proceedings with a denied asylum claim. The agency tasked with protecting unaccompanied minors did what the regulations under 45 CFR § 410.1201 require: it held the child until a verified, approved custodian could be identified. None was.

Reyes Hermes was released on bond. His son went home to Venezuela through voluntary departure approved by an immigration judge. The stepmother withdrew her own sponsorship application. The biological mother was in another country.

The court file is public. The regulations are published. The media ran "kidnapped" anyway.