President Trump’s DOJ Sends Plane to Cuba to Return Utah Boy in Gender Identity Custody Battle

President Donald Trump’s administration sent a government plane to Cuba this week to return a 10-year-old child from Utah who is at the center of a custody dispute involving the child’s gender identity.

The U.S. Department of Justice coordinated the mission after federal and state authorities sought the child’s return following allegations that the child was taken to Cuba without the consent of the biological mother.

The child’s parent, Rose Inessa-Ethington, a transgender woman, and her partner, Blue Inessa-Ethington, were arrested and charged in U.S. Federal court in Utah with international parental kidnapping.

According to a criminal complaint filed in federal court, the couple traveled with the child to Canada in late March under the pretense of a camping trip with Blue’s 3-year-old child. After informing the older child’s mother they had arrived in Canada, they turned off their phones and flew from Vancouver to Mexico and then to Cuba on April 1.

The complaint states that the charges do not specify whether the couple intended to obtain gender-affirming surgery for the child in Cuba or how they would access such care, noting that such procedures are not legal for children in Cuba.

FBI investigators reported that Blue Inessa-Ethington withdrew $10,000 from her checking account prior to leaving the United States. Agents also discovered a note at the couple’s home containing instructions from a mental health therapist in Washington, D.C., to send the therapist the $10,000.

The Department of Justice confirmed the use of a government aircraft to retrieve the child from Cuba, describing the action as an unusual step in a legally complex and contentious case.

The child has since been returned to the United States, though no further details about current custody arrangements or legal proceedings have been made public by authorities.