A federal judge on Thursday said Attorney General Jeff Sessions should be held in contempt of court after Justice Department officials allowed the deportation of a mother and daughter back to El Salvador, despite federal lawyers’ promise a day earlier that the two plaintiffs would not be removed.
The judge demanded that the two Salvadorans, who had claimed asylum and cited domestic violence and gang violence as reasons for the legal protection, be immediately returned to the U.S. once their plane landed in the Central American nation.
U.S. District Court Judge Emmit G. Sullivan criticized the Justice Department’s policy of “expedited removal,” by which applicants are quickly deported as soon as their claims of “credible fear” have been determined to be unfounded. This is happening increasingly to those who try to seek asylum on grounds unrelated to government persecution, such as domestic and gang violence.
“This is pretty outrageous,” Sullivan said. “That someone seeking justice in U.S. court is spirited away while her attorneys are arguing for justice for her?”
A lawyer working on behalf of the American Civil Liberties Union and Center for Gender and Refugee Studies informed the judge that a mother and daughter who were among the plaintiffs had just been ordered back to Central America Thursday even after the DOJ said a day earlier it would not remove anyone prior to early Friday morning.
Sullivan said Sessions ought to be held in contempt for actions he deemed “not acceptable.”
The ACLU said the two will be flown back to Texas and then returned to the detention center where they had been staying prior to removal.
“In its rush to deport as many immigrants as possible, the Trump administration is putting these women and children in grave danger of being raped, beaten, or killed,” said Jennifer Chang Newell, managing attorney for the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project. “We are thrilled the stay of removal was issued, but sickened that the government deported two of our clients — a mom and her little girl — in the early morning hours. We will not rest until our clients are returned to safety.”
The woman in question, only referenced by the ACLU as “Carmen,” had arrived in the U.S. in June and applied for asylum on the basis that she feared her family would be killed by gang members who had threatened her to pay them every month or face consequences.
She also claimed to work at a factory where coworkers had been killed and said her husband was abusive.
Any person seeking asylum is initially interviewed and those who do not meet the legal standards are put on a fast track for removal.
The ACLU’s lawsuit states 12 people from El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras failed their initial interviews on the basis that they claimed to be fleeing gang and domestic violence.
