By Jasper Ward
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration appeared to have deported a 2-year-old U.S. citizen "with no meaningful process," a federal judge said on Friday, as the child’s father sought to have her returned to the United States.
U.S. District Judge Terry A. Doughty said the girl, who was referred to as "V.M.L." in court documents, was deported with her mother.
“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen,” Doughty said.
He scheduled a hearing for May 19 "in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process."
V.M.L. was apprehended by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Tuesday with her mother, Jenny Carolina Lopez Villela, and older sister when Villela attended a routine appointment at its New Orleans office, according to a filing by Trish Mack, who said the infant’s father asked her to act as the child’s custodian.
According to Mack, when V.M.L.’s father briefly spoke to Villela, he could hear her and the children crying. During that time, according to a court document, he reminded her that their daughter was a U.S. citizen "and could not be deported."
However, prosecutors said Villela, who has legal custody, told ICE that she wanted to retain custody of the girl and have her go with her to Honduras. They said the man claiming to be V.M.L.’s father had not presented himself to ICE despite requests to do so.
"It is therefore in V.M.L.’s best interest that she remain in the lawful custody of her mother," Trump administration officials said in a filing on Friday. "Further, V.M.L. is not at risk of irreparable harm because she is a U.S. citizen."
V.M.L. is not prohibited from entering the U.S., prosecutors added.
The Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The American Civil Liberties Union described V.M.L,’s case -and another similar - as a "shocking ... abuse of power."
"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," it said.
U.S. President Donald Trump, whose presidential campaigns have focused heavily on immigration, said earlier this month he wanted to deport some violent criminals who are U.S. citizens to El Salvadoran prisons.
The comments raised concern about a proposal that has alarmed civil rights advocates and is viewed by many legal scholars as unconstitutional.
The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration, which has already deported hundreds of people to El Salvador, to "facilitate and effectuate" the return of Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to the country on March 15 despite an order protecting him from deportation.