8 hours ago
7
ARTICLE AD BOX
Homeland Security officials took a victory lap Saturday after immigration groups asked a judge to dismiss a lawsuit that had claimed the government wrongly deported an American child.
The case had become a major flashpoint, with Democrats on Capitol Hill using reports of a child deportation to blast President Trump for violating the law by deporting a U.S. citizen.
But DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Immigration Project got it wrong.
“The truth is, and has always been, that the mother — who was in the country illegally — chose to bring her 2-year-old with her to Honduras when she was removed. The narrative that DHS is deporting American children is false and irresponsible,” she said.
It wasn’t just the activists who dinged the administration.
A federal judge, in a ruling, said he had a “strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”
The government, though, had submitted documents showing that Jenny Carolina Lopez Villela wanted to take her daughter, Valentina Mendez Lopez, to Honduras when she was deported.
The mother wrote a note memorializing that decision, which was filed with the judge.
The National Immigration Project, which was representing the child through a U.S.-based friend, asked the judge on Thursday to dismiss the case.
Two weeks ago, the NIP called the deportation “horrifying and baffling.”
“Families have been ripped apart unnecessarily. These mothers had no opportunity to speak with their co-parents to make the kinds of choices that parents are entitled to make for their children,” said Gracie Willis, a lawyer on the case.
The court filing Thursday didn’t reveal a reason for dismissing the case.
The Washington Times has sought comment from the NIP and the ACLU for this story.
Immigration activists have cited another case where they argued two other American children, ages 4 and 7, were wrongly deported along with their mother.
English (US) ·