Judge orders return of deported Honduran man whose removal 'boggles the mind'
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a 20-year-old Honduran man with no criminal history, and his U.S. citizen daughter, after finding he was likely denied due process, including access to a lawyer, before his removal from the United States.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell said in her order that Jose Eliezer Martinez-Andino was "removed from this country in a manner that boggles the mind."
Martinez-Andino was detained by immigration authorities in Montana in March as part of the Trump administration's ongoing immigration crackdown, and was moved between at least six detention centers in different states across the country, the judge said.
"[He] seemingly disappeared -- he was not permitted to contact his attorneys for more than ten days, and neither [ICE] nor [CBP] would tell his attorneys where he was or in which agency's custody, despite repeated requests," Judge Howell wrote.
Martinez-Andino entered the U.S. in 2020 when he was 14 years old and was deemed an unaccompanied minor. A judge previously granted a dismissal of his removal proceedings after finding he had an approved application for a Special Immigrant Juvenile Visa.
A spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security pushed back on allegations that Martinez-Andino didn't have access to legal counsel.
"On March 18, Border Patrol arrested Jose Eliezer Martinez-Andino, an illegal alien from Honduras," the spokesperson said in a statement to ABC News. "He entered the country illegally on an unknown date through Mexico. In September 2020, Border Patrol encountered him, and he was RELEASED into the country by the Biden administration. He was issued a voluntary return and departed the country on April 13. Any claims that he was not allowed access to an attorney are FALSE."
Quoting the federal judge overseeing the immigration case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported last year before being returned to the United States, Judge Howell said the Trump administration is ordered immediately to facilitate the return of Martinez-Andino "to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly" sent to Honduras.
