Judge Appointed by Trump Criticizes Deportation of 2-Year-Old U.S. Citizen

A young child who was born in America was recently sent back to Honduras along with her mother, which caused a judge nominated by President Donald Trump to voice concern about how carelessly the administration managed the situation.

Politico's Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein reported Friday U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty, whom Trump appointed to the Western District of Louisiana in 2018, has set a hearing for May 16 to address the potential deportation of V.M.L., a two-year-old U.S. citizen mentioned in legal documents. Doughty included in the scheduling order that the hearing was essential "to address our significant doubt that the government merely expelled a U.S. citizen without any substantial procedure."

V.M.L., who was listed as being born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 2023 according to her birth certificate, was sent back to Honduras along with her mother and sister even though her dad tried multiple times to convince the court to let her stay in the U.S. During their detention by ICE officers after a routine meeting at the ICE office in New Orleans on Tuesday, V.M.L.’s mom gave authorities a hand-written note in Spanish stating her desire for her young child to accompany them to Honduras.

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“In the Friday scheduling order, Doughty wrote, ‘The government argues that this is acceptable since the mother desires for the child to be deported along with her,’ but the court does not.” know that.”

VML's dad requested a lady called Trish Mack to serve as V.M.L.’s legal guardian so the young child could be freed from ICE custody. Nonetheless, Mack’s lawyers mentioned that ICE officials permitted just a brief one-minute conversation between the girl’s mom and VML’s father, during which they couldn’t formulate an arrangement prior to the call concluding.

The respondents do not have the legal power to hold onto V.M.L., since she is a naturally born U.S. citizen and a young child, Attorneys penned on behalf of Mack in a Thursday filing.

Judge Doughty mentioned that he had independently learned the plane transporting V.M.L. along with her mother and sister was already airborne over the Gulf of Mexico as he attempted to contact V.M.L.’s mother via telephone to verify her preferences regarding her 2-year-old daughter. In his ruling, Doughty also employed the terminology favored by the Trump administration when referring to the body of water.

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