WASHINGTON:The Trump administration appeared to have deported a 2-year-old US 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.
US 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 US citizen,” Doughty said.
He scheduled a hearing for May 19 “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process.”
V.M.L. was apprehended by US 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 US 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 US citizen.”
V.M.L. is not prohibited from entering the US, 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.
US President Donald Trump, whose presidential campaigns have focused heavily on immigration, said earlier this month he wanted to deport some violent criminals who are US 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.
Two-year-old US citizen deported ‘with no meaningful process’
https://arab.news/4qs6a
Two-year-old US citizen deported ‘with no meaningful process’
- “It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a US citizen,” Doughty said
Albanese announces bravery award for heroes of Bondi antisemitic attack
- The proposed honors would recognize those who are nominated and recommended for bravery or meritorious awards under the existing Australian Honors and Awards system for their actions during and after the attack
NEWCASTLE: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced plans Thursday for a national bravery award to recognize civilians and first responders who confronted “the worst of evil” during an antisemitic terror attack that left 15 dead and has cast a heavy shadow over the nation’s holiday season.
Albanese said he plans to establish a special honors system for those who placed themselves in harms way to help during the attack on a beachside Hanukkah celebration, like Ahmed al Ahmed, a Syrian-Australian Muslim who disarmed one of the assailants before being wounded himself.
Sajid Akram, who was killed by police during the Dec. 14 attack, and his 24-year-old son Naveed Akram are accused of perpetrating Australia’s worst massacre since 1996.
Speaking at a press conference after a Christmas Day lunch at a charitable foundation in Sydney, Albanese described a Christmas defined by a sharp contrast between extremist violence and the “best of humanity.”
“This Christmas is a different one because of the anti-terror and the terrorist attack motivated by Daesh and antisemitism,” Albanese said. “But at the same time as we have seen the worst of humanity, we have seen the bravery and kindness and compassion ... from those who rushed to danger.”
The proposed honors would recognize those who are nominated and recommended for bravery or meritorious awards under the existing Australian Honors and Awards system for their actions during and after the attack.
’Difficult fortnight’
Just a day after pushing through the country’s toughest firearm laws, New South Wales state leader Chris Minns issued a plea for national solidarity, urging Australians to support their Jewish neighbors during what he described as a fortnight of “heartbreak and pain.”
“Everybody in Australia needs to wrap their arms around them and lift them up,” Minns said at the same press conference Thursday. “I want them to know that Australians have got their back. We’re in their corner and we’re going to help them get through this.”
Tougher gun laws
The gun reforms which passed through the New South Wales state legislature on Christmas Eve include capping individual gun ownership at four and reclassifying high-risk weapons like pump-action firearms.
The legislation also tightens licensing by reducing permit terms to two years, restricting ownership to Australian citizens, and removing the review pathway for license denials.
“Gun reform alone will not solve hatred or extremism, but we can’t fail to act on restricting access to weapons which could lead to further violence against our citizens, Minns said earlier in the week when introducing the proposed laws.
Other new laws will ban the public display of terrorist symbols and grant police expanded powers to restrict public gatherings in specific areas following terrorist incidents.
Albanese has also announced plans to tighten Australia’s already strict gun laws.
