Feds detain 3 sisters at O’Hare for 12 hours; officials accused of setting trap for undocumented parents

Silvia, who declined to provide her last name, at O’Hare International Airport after picking up her three daughters. They had been detailed by Customs and Border Protection officials about 12 hours, supporters of the family said. | Manny Ramos/Chicago Sun-Times

Three girls were detained by U.S. Customs and Border Protection at O’Hare International Airport more than 12 hours Thursday after returning from a trip abroad.

The girls — ages 13, 10 and 9 — are U.S. citizens and arrived in Chicago at 3 a.m. with an adult who had written permission from the parents to travel with the children, said Mony Ruiz-Velazco, an attorney working with the family said.

However, Border Protection officials denied entry to the girls as well as their companion, who was traveling on a tourist visa; officials said they were waiting for a parent to come get the girls.

After some negotiation, the girls were released about 4 p.m.

Their parents, undocumented immigrants, had feared their children were being used as bait so that the parents could be detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Demonstrators gathered at O’Hare International Airport Thursday, demanding the release of three sisters detained as they returned from a trip abroad. The girls, ages 13, 10 and 9, are U.S. citizens.

Ruiz-Velazco said she gave customs officials documents from the parents that authorized the release of the girls to her custody.

Customs and Border Protection issued a statement saying that three children arrived at O’Hare accompanied by a Mexican citizen who was deemed “inadmissible.”

Officers then “attempted numerous times today to reach family members to pick up the children.”

The children were provided food and drinks during their wait.

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky had just landed at O’Hare International Airport from Washington D.C. when she got word of the girls’ situation and headed over to the International Terminal as the situation was unfolding Thursday afternoon.

”I feel that it’s a kind of kidnapping of children by our government and I am really fed up,” Schakowsky said.

U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky at O’Hare International Airport on Thursday, with protesters upset about the detention of three young sisters re-entering the country.