Lebanon’s General Security has detained a Sudanese-Sri Lankan family of seven, including four children under age 18, the Anti-Racism Movement (ARM), Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and the Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH) said Thursday.

In a statement extended to Radio Tamazuj, the rights groups said General Security is threatening to deport the parents to different countries for lacking residency papers.

The rights bodies called on the security agency responsible for the entry and exit of foreigners to free the family, pending the resolution of the family’s deportation proceedings. They stressed that the security agency should ensure that the family can remain together.

“If specific and compelling reasons exist to impose restrictions on the family, then General Security should take measures other than detention. In no case, however, should children be detained for migration-related purposes, as detention can be extremely harmful to them,” the statement reads in part.

The father of the family is Sudanese, the mother is from Sri Lanka, and their five children were born and have lived in Lebanon.

The organizations revealed that the oldest child, 18, has been detained since February 14, 2019, at the General Security Directorate due to his irregular residency status. On July 3, General Security raided the family’s home in Beirut and detained the father, 57, his wife, 42, and their 5-year-old daughter, Beirut, whom they named out of attachment for the city.

On July 4, the authorities also detained their three other sons, aged 11, 13, and 16, who had been left unattended when their parents were taken into custody, according to the statement.

“Detaining children causes them significant harm and should never be used for migration-related purposes,” said Lama Fakih, acting Middle East director at Human Rights Watch.

“General Security should release them and their parents immediately and, if necessary, use less harmful alternatives to ensure that the family appears for proceedings,” she added.