Family of 2-year-old US citizen deported to Honduras drops lawsuit
against Trump administration
[May 14, 2025]
By MEGAN JANETSKY
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Lawyers for a 2-year-old U.S. citizen who was
deported with her mother to Honduras confirmed on Tuesday that the
family was dropping its lawsuit against the administration of U.S.
President Donald Trump.
The girl -– one of three U.S.-born children who were deported alongside
their Honduran-born mothers -– had been at the heart of one of the
mounting legal battles playing out in the United States weighing if the
Trump administration broke the law in implementing its new deportation
policies.
“Given the traumatizing experiences the families have been through, they
are taking a step back to have full discussions about all their options,
the safety and well-being of their children, and the best ways to
proceed so the harms they have suffered can be fully addressed,” said
Gracie Willis, one of the family’s lawyers.
The lawsuit was brought by the American Civil Liberties Union, National
Immigration Project and several other allied groups, which said the
deportations were a “shocking — although increasingly common — abuse of
power.”
Willis and the group of lawyers had argued that the families did not
have a fair opportunity to decide whether they wanted the children to
stay in the United States. Willis said the family of the 2-year-old girl
and their lawyers jointly decided to dismiss the case to give the family
“space and time to consider all the options that are available to them.”
[to top of second column]
|
Honduras migrants who were deported from the U.S. deplane at Ramon
Villeda Morales Airport, in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, Dec. 4, 2024.
(AP Photo/Moises Castillo, File)
A federal judge in Louisiana had raised questions about the girl's
deportation, saying the government did not prove it had done so
properly.
The Honduran-born mother — who is pregnant — was arrested in April
on an outstanding deportation order along with the girl and her
11-year-old Honduran-born sister during a check-in appointment at a
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in New Orleans,
lawyers said. The family lived in Baton Rouge.
Lawyers for the girl’s father insisted he wanted the girl to remain
with him in the U.S., while ICE said the mother had wanted the girl
to be deported with her to Honduras.
In a court filing, lawyers for the father said ICE indicated that it
was holding the girl in a bid to induce the father to turn himself
in.
U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana had scheduled a
hearing for the case later this week, saying it was “in the interest
of dispelling our strong suspicion that the Government just deported
a U.S. citizen with no meaningful process."
All contents © copyright 2025 Associated Press. All rights reserved |
