In a brief order issued from Federal District Court in the Western District of Louisiana, Judge Terry A. Doughty questioned why the #Trump admin had sent the #child — known in court papers only as V.M.L. — to Honduras with her mother even though her father had sought in an emergency petition on Thurs to stop the girl from being sent abroad.

#law #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #DueProcess #judiciary

“The government contends that this is all OK because the mother wishes that the #child be deported with her,” wrote Judge Doughty, a conservative #Trump appointee. “But the court doesn’t know that.”

Asserting that “it is #illegal & #unconstitutional to deport” a #UScitizen, Judge Doughty set a hearing for May 16 to explore his “strong suspicion that the government just deported a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process.”

#law #immigration #TheCrueltyIsThePoint #DueProcess #judiciary

Acc/to court papers, the 2-year-old girl had accompanied her mother, Jenny Carolina Lopez Villela, & her older sister, Valeria, to an #immigration appointment in NewOrleans on Tues when they were taken into custody by #ICE.

Ms. Lopez Villela was scheduled for an expedited removal from the country on Fri. And in a filing to Judge Doughty, lawyers for the #Trump #DOJ claimed that she “made known to ICE officials that she wanted to retain custody of VML & for VML to go” w/her to Honduras.

#law