President Donald Trump appeared to have deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen with ‘no meaningful process,’ a federal judge in Louisiana has said. The child known in court papers only as V.M.L was being sent out to Honduras with her mother, against the wishes of her father, according to the New York Times.
On Tuesday, the girl accompanied her mother, Jenny Villela, and her older sister, Valeria, to an immigration appointment in New Orleans when they were taken into custody by officials of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a court paper.
Ms Villela was scheduled for an expedited removal from the country on Friday.
In a filling to Judge Terry A Doughty, lawyers for the Justice Department claimed that she “made known to ICE officials that she wanted to retain custody of V.M.L. and for V.M.L. to go” with her to Honduras.
But in a petition filed by the child’s custodian, Trish Mack, on Thursday, her father claimed that when he spoke briefly with Ms Villela, he could hear her and the children crying.
The father reminded her, the petition indicated, that “their daughter was a U.S. citizen and could not be deported.”
The U.S. Judge Terry A. Doughty described the move by Mr Trump’s administration as illegal and unconstitutional.
“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen,” Mr Doughty, a conservative Trump appointee, said.
He added, “The government contends that this is all ok because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her, but the court doesn’t know that.”
Mr Doughty has set a hearing for May 16 to explore his “strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
The case of V.M.L is the latest challenge to the legality of several aspects of Mr Trump’s aggressive deportation efforts.
The Trump administration has been blocked by seven federal judges across the country from removing Venezuela migrants accused of being gang members to El Salvador under a rarely invoked wartime statute.
The American Civil Liberties Union also described the V.M. L’s case was shocking and an abuse of power by Mr Trump’s administration.
It stated, “These actions stand in direct violation of ICE’s own written and informal directives, which mandate coordination for the care of minor children with willing caretakers – regardless of immigration status – when deportations are being carried out.’’
Last month, Mr Trump, whose campaign focused on immigration, said he wanted to deport some violent criminals who are U.S. citizens to El Salvador prisons.
