A mother and daughter recently deported from the United States by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will be allowed to return to the country after a ruling by an appeals court. Federal officials were ordered to stop their plans to deport the family on Friday, which was unfortunately too late, but officials have now been told to find the two females in Guatemala and bring them home.
34-year-old Ana and her daughter, who is just 12 years old, were deported without the Third Circuit Court of Appeals being told about the action by Immigration and Customs Enforcement. This was despite the US attorney’s office claiming on the 9th of this month that ICE had no intention of deporting the pair and despite the motion filed by family attorney Bridget Cambria to block any such deportation. The court says it would have prevented ICE’s action had it been made aware of it.
Cambria is accusing Immigration and Customs Enforcement of playing games with the lives of the people involved and claims that it has denied these immigrants the right to due process given that they were protected due to having been the victims of abuse back in Guatemala. The order for them to be returned issued by Chief Judge McKee could set a precedent for other deportations to be reversed by appeals courts.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman Gillian Christenson explained: “Right now the agency is working to prepare a way forward for all parties involved in the case.”