Judge voices 'suspicion' after two-year-old US citizen deported to Honduras

Judge Terry Doughty set a May 16 hearing, citing concern that the US government may have deported a US citizen toddler without due process, calling for clarification of the incident

By Robert Burnson

 

A federal judge wants answers from Trump administration officials why they deported a two-year-old US citizen to Honduras with her mother, as the child’s father tried to halt the effort. 

In a brief order issued Friday, Judge Terry Doughty in Louisiana set a hearing for May 16 “in the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the government just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process.”

 

The child, identified in court documents as V.M.L., was with her mother, an undocumented immigrant, when she was detained during a scheduled check-in this week at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office, according to court records. An attorney representing the toddler’s father informed staff at the facility that the child was a US citizen, born in Baton Rouge in January 2023, according to court records.

 

 

A family friend filed a petition with the court on Thursday to prevent the deportation of the child. In response, the judge called immigration officials Friday to speak to the mother and ask about her “consent and custodial rights.” An hour later, a government lawyer called back and told the judge that “a call with VML’s mother would not be possible, because she (and presumably VML) had just been released in Honduras.”

 

“The government contends that this is all okay because the mother wishes that the child be deported with her,” the judge wrote in his order. “But the court doesn’t know that.”