A federal judge is preparing to summon a deportee back to the United States after he was unlawfully deported, even though he had legal residency in the country.
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23-year-old Juan Manuel Montes will appear before U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who will determine whether Montes' deportation on February 19 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents violated the law.
Montes, who had been in the U.S. since he was nine years old, had twice received protection under the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, or DACA. He would have remained protected until 2018, but his status was revoked when he was forced to sign deportation documents without being provided an attorney or seeing an immigration judge. Montes also says he was not given copies of the documents he was forced to sign.
Montes has been seen as a “canary in the coal mine” for President Donald Trump's policies toward DACA, which provides renewable 2-year administrative relief from deportation for qualifying unauthorized migrants. It also gives them the right to enroll in college, legally find employment and obtain drivers licenses.
"I would be inclined to direct that he be paroled into the United States," Curiel said, according to USA Today. "I would like to observe the demeanor of the witnesses. I would like to determine what they have to say."
The government has failed to present any documentation of Montes' deportation during the trial while CBP haven't discussed the case either, citing their privacy policy. Justice Department attorney Aaron Goldsmith maintains that the deportation never happened and the DOJ “doesn't have any record of this.”
"I have yet to see a case similar to ours as to an individual being removed by U.S. law enforcement and there is not one piece of paper, there is not one note, there is not one iota of evidence to memorialize that an individual was removed from the United States," Curiel said.
The DACA program offers a crucial lifeline to nearly 800,000 undocumented residents who arrived in the U.S. as minors. Recent polls indicate that 78 percent of the U.S. public support the program.
Trump controversially referred to Judge Gonzalo Curiel as a Mexican during his election campaign while questioning his ability to judge a case against Trump University impartially because of his heritage.
"We're building a wall. He's Mexican," Trump said, adding, "we're building a wall between here and Mexico." Ultimately Trump agreed to settle in both judicial cases, paying the plaintiffs a total of US$25 million.