A federal judge on Friday expressed concern after a two-year-old US citizen was reportedly deported from the country without her father in the absence of “any meaningful process.”
The court noted that the deportation proceedings went on even though the child’s father was urgently trying to keep her in the United States.
The toddler, who is identified in court documents only as “VML,” was reportedly sent to Honduras on Friday with her Honduran-born mother and older sister, Politico reported.
This happened despite an emergency legal effort to prevent the deportation, filed by the father’s legal representatives, the judge noted.
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US District Judge Terry Doughty, who was appointed by former President Donald Trump, expressed deep concern over the incident as the case highlights the latest concern by the courts that the Trump administration’s rush to carry out deportations is violating due process rights.
Deportation of a 2-year-old: What exactly happened?
The child, whose redacted US birth certificate was filed in court and showed she was born in New Orleans in 2023, had been with her mother and sister during a regular immigration check-in at the New Orleans office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday.
Officials there detained them and queued them up for deportation.
Trump administration officials said in court that the mother told ICE officials that she wished to take VML with her to Honduras.
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The filing included a handwritten note in Spanish they claimed was written by the mother and confirmed her intent. But the judge said he had hoped to verify that information.
The case began on Thursday, when attorneys filed an emergency petition seeking the girl’s release from ICE custody and a declaration that her detention was unlawful.
The petition listed Trish Mack, someone the child’s father reportedly trusted to take custody of the girl, as the person who would care for her if she were released.
US court seeks phone call with child’s mother
During the hearing, lawyers for the guardian told the court that VML’s father was denied the chance to have a substantial call with the girl’s mother to discuss plans for their child.
On this, judge Doughty said he attempted to investigate the emergency matter himself on Friday, seeking to get VML’s mother on the phone.
However, the Trump administration lawyers called the judge back Friday afternoon and said a phone call with the mother would not be possible “because she (and presumably VML) had just been released in Honduras,” the judge said.
Crucial hearing on May 16
Judge Doughty scheduled a hearing for May 16 to determine whether the US government unlawfully deported a child born in New Orleans in 2023, the publication further reported
“The Government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” Doughty wrote. “But the Court doesn’t know that.”
