A federal judge issued a stern warning Friday, expressing serious concern that the Trump administration had deported a two-year-old American citizen to Honduras without granting her proper legal protections, even as her father was desperately trying to keep her in the country through the courts.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, appointed by President Trump, said that the child — identified in filings only as “V.M.L.” — appeared to have been released in Honduras earlier that day along with her Honduran-born mother and sister. The family had been detained by immigration officials earlier in the week.
Doughty set a court hearing for May 16, stating it was necessary “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
The girl, born in New Orleans in 2023 according to a redacted birth certificate submitted to the court, had been attending a routine check-in with her mother and sister at the New Orleans office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement when the three were detained and prepared for deportation.
Government attorneys argued in court that the child’s mother had requested to take V.M.L. with her to Honduras. They submitted a handwritten Spanish note they said confirmed the mother’s wishes. However, Doughty indicated that he had hoped to personally verify those claims.
“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.”
Assistant DHS Secretary Tricia McLaughlin defended the administration’s approach, saying, “This parent made the decision to take the child with them to Honduras. It is common that parents want to be removed with their children. Parents are asked if they want to be removed with their children or ICE will place the children with someone the parent designates. In this case, the parent stated they wanted to be removed with the children.” She added, “We take our responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected.”
The legal confrontation escalated on Thursday when attorneys representing the family filed an emergency motion in federal court in Louisiana, demanding that ICE immediately release V.M.L. and formally recognize that her detention had been unlawful. The filing named Trish Mack as the petitioner, noting that she had been asked by the girl’s father to assume custody and retrieve the child from ICE.
According to filings, the father had been trying to communicate with the child’s mother to finalize plans for their daughter but was given almost no opportunity to do so. ICE allegedly permitted only a brief, one-minute call between the parents while the mother was in custody, during which they were unable to reach any decisions about V.M.L.’s future.
Unlike many deportation cases that have made headlines in recent weeks — including the highly publicized situation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to a Salvadoran prison despite a 2019 court ruling — V.M.L. holds U.S. citizenship and should have a clear legal path to return to the United States. Nonetheless, this incident has amplified growing concerns that the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation practices are undermining due process, even for American citizens.
Judge Doughty said he had taken steps on Friday to try to verify the government’s claims by contacting the mother directly. However, he learned independently that the flight believed to be carrying the family was already “above the Gulf of America.”
Later Friday afternoon, Trump administration attorneys notified Doughty that a phone call with the mother would not be possible, writing that she and V.M.L. had already been released in Honduras. Doughty subsequently set the next hearing date for mid-May.
The judge, who presides in Monroe, Louisiana, is located roughly 100 miles north of the Alexandria facility where the family was believed to have been held before deportation proceedings began.
Doughty’s unusually harsh criticism of the Trump administration stands out, especially given his history of siding with conservative litigants in several major cases. Among his most notable rulings were those challenging the Biden administration’s actions aimed at regulating what officials deemed misinformation on topics like vaccines and politically sensitive issues.
In fact, Doughty’s reputation as a conservative-leaning jurist was so strong that some legal activists intentionally filed cases in his jurisdiction, seeking favorable outcomes.
Yet despite voicing significant concerns over how the government handled this case, Doughty’s Friday order appeared to subtly acknowledge Trump’s language preferences, referring to the body of water traditionally known as the Gulf of Mexico as the “Gulf of America.”
{Matzav.com}