President Donald Trump’s administration used a government plane to return a 10-year-old at the center of a custody fight involving the child’s gender identity, according to the Associated Press. The administration sent the plane to Cuba after authorities sought the child’s return from outside the country, and it also arrested the child’s parent and her partner for their roles in the case.
The Justice Department said the child was returned to the child’s biological mother, and prosecutors said Rose Inessa-Ethington and Blue Inessa-Ethington would be sent back to Utah to face federal charges. The Associated Press reported that the couple had been arrested and charged in connection with an international parental kidnapping case.
Federal and state authorities sought the child’s return after a family member raised concerns that Inessa-Ethington traveled to Havana to obtain gender transition surgery for the child, the Associated Press reported. The child’s parent, Rose Inessa-Ethington, is described in the Associated Press report as a transgender woman, and the custody dispute in Utah centered on competing claims about permission for the child’s travel and care.
Inessa-Ethington and Blue Inessa-Ethington were arrested in connection with the case and charged in federal court in Utah, according to the Associated Press. The report said the charges stemmed from travel that began in late March, when the couple traveled with the child to Canada under what the Associated Press described as a camping-trip plan, and then traveled onward after turning off their phones.
The Associated Press reported that, according to a criminal complaint filed in federal court in Utah, the couple flew from Vancouver to Mexico and then to Cuba on April 1. The complaint did not say whether they had planned the surgery in Cuba, and it noted that gender-affirming surgery is not legal for children in Cuba.
The Associated Press also reported details from the case involving money and documentation found by investigators. The FBI said Blue Inessa-Ethington withdrew $10,000 from her checking account before leaving, and agents also found a note at the couple’s home that included instructions from a mental health therapist in Washington, D.C., “to send the therapist the $10,000.00 and instructions on gender affirming medical care for children.” The Associated Press reported the note did not mention Cuba.
The Associated Press reported Logan’s search began after the child was not returned as scheduled on April 3. The child’s biological mother, divorced from Rose Inessa-Ethington, filed a missing-person report with police in Logan, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) north of Salt Lake City, according to court documents cited by the Associated Press. Logan City Police Chief Jeff Simmons said his department’s initial focus was on custodial interference allegations, and investigators did not learn until later about concerns related to gender-affirming surgery, the Associated Press reported.
A Utah state judge ordered the return of the 10-year-old on April 13, the Associated Press reported. Three days later, a federal magistrate judge issued an arrest warrant for the Inessa-Ethingtons. On the same day, the Associated Press reported, Cuban law enforcement located the group; prosecutors said the couple was deported to the U.S. aboard the government plane and arraigned in federal court in Richmond, Virginia.
After the arrests, the child was returned to the biological mother, the Associated Press reported. The Associated Press said prosecutors declined to describe what happened to the 3-year-old child who had been with the couple.
The Associated Press reported that the custody dispute did not appear to be brand-new. It cited an online fundraiser created five years earlier by Blue Inessa-Ethington, titled “Help a Trans Mother Keep Custody of Her Child,” which raised $9,766. The Associated Press also reported that a statement associated with that fundraiser said Rose’s ex relocated several counties away, which it said negatively affected Rose’s parent-time.
The Associated Press further reported that a family member told investigators the child was assigned male at birth but identified as a girl, and that the family member believed Rose Inessa-Ethington’s actions involved “manipulation,” according to an April 16 affidavit from FBI Special Agent Jennifer Waterfield.
The wider context for the case includes the Trump administration’s actions in recent months that sought to limit gender-affirming care for minors. The Associated Press reported that in December the administration moved to cut off gender-affirming care for minors, prompting lawsuits from a third of states. The Associated Press said research shows gender-affirming surgery is rare among U.S. children, and it cited medical guidance from major organizations that calls for caution around surgery for minors and decisions made case-by-case.
The Associated Press also described Cuba’s rules for such procedures, saying gender-affirming surgeries are banned for minors and only performed for adults through Cuba’s public health system under strict supervision in designated public hospitals, after authorization by a medical commission that requires a comprehensive review.
The Associated Press reported that the Associated Press left telephone and email messages with the court-appointed attorneys who represented Blue and Rose Inessa-Ethington in Virginia. Representatives of the FBI and the U.S. attorneys office in Utah declined to say what happened to the 3-year-old child, the Associated Press reported.