Washington, D.C. — In a startling revelation, a U.S. federal judge has said he harbors a “strong suspicion” that the Trump administration deported a 2-year-old American citizen to Honduras “with no meaningful process,” sparking fresh controversy over the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.
The child, identified in court filings as V.M.L., was detained earlier this week alongside her undocumented mother and sister during a routine immigration check-in in New Orleans. According to court documents, when the father, an American citizen, learned of the detention, his lawyer urgently contacted immigration officials to inform them that V.M.L. was a U.S. citizen and thus not subject to deportation.
Despite the urgent notice, immigration officials reportedly gave the father limited communication with his family and informed him that deportation proceedings were imminent. When the father attempted to negotiate for custody of the child, he was allegedly warned he too would face detention.
On Thursday, a family friend, who had been granted provisional custody of the toddler, filed for a temporary restraining order to halt the deportation. The legal motion argued that the child was suffering “irreparable harm” by being unlawfully detained. However, before the court could intervene, the 2-year-old and her family were deported in the early hours, according to filings by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU).
Government lawyers responded by asserting that it was in the child’s best interest to remain with her mother and insisted that the child, being a citizen, was “not at risk of irreparable harm” and would not be barred from reentry into the United States.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, in an order issued Friday, sharply criticized the government’s actions, stating that the court had attempted to contact the mother to verify if she consented to her daughter’s deportation but was told by federal lawyers that she was already released in Honduras.
Judge Doughty has now scheduled a hearing for May 16, 2025, emphasizing the need to clear “the strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
The ACLU, which is representing the family, described the event as one of “deeply troubling circumstances that raise serious due process concerns,” noting that two other U.S. citizen children in a separate case were also recently deported under similar conditions.
This incident reignites debate about the legality and humanity of the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation policies, especially regarding U.S.-born children of undocumented immigrants — a group often referred to as “mixed-status families.”
As America braces for the political consequences of such actions, the episode raises critical constitutional questions that are expected to reverberate through the courts and the wider public discourse in the coming months.
Newspot Nigeria will continue to monitor developments on this significant case that touches on citizenship rights, immigration enforcement, and the rule of law in the United States.
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