New York Governor Kathy Hochul has strongly condemned the detention of a seven-year-old girl by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in Lower Manhattan, calling the act “cruel and unjust.”

According to Hochul, the incident occurred last week when a mother went to 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan for a routine immigration check-in with her adult son and young daughter. ICE agents reportedly detained all three family members on the spot.

Governor Hochul criticized the decision, stressing that separating a mother from her child and detaining a minor does not enhance public safety.

“I have been clear: whether under President Biden or Donald Trump, I will work with the federal government to secure our borders and deport violent criminals who pose a real threat. But ripping a mother from her children and detaining her seven-year-old daughter is cruel and unjust. It does not make anyone in New York or across the country safer,” Hochul said.

Instead of preparing her daughter for school, Hochul explained, the family has been separated and transferred to a facility in Texas. Her administration, she added, has contacted the Department of Homeland Security to demand their immediate return to New York.

Calling the detention part of a troubling pattern, Hochul said this was “not the first cruel and unjust act” at 26 Federal Plaza. She urged New Yorkers to continue pressing for better conditions at the detention center and demanded oversight access for congressional representatives.

She also criticized former President Donald Trump, who had pledged to target only the “worst of the worst” in immigration enforcement.

“President Trump promised only to target the ‘worst of the worst,’ but ICE continues to target families, students and those contributing to society,” Hochul noted. “With less than half of immigration arrests by ICE involving someone with a conviction or criminal history, it is long past time they focus on removing violent criminals, as they promised — and stop terrorizing children.”

The Governor concluded by questioning the credibility of Trump’s enforcement approach: “If a seven-year-old is who President Trump considers the ‘worst of the worst,’ then the promise was a lie from the start.”