Deportation of Ohio woman was in error, appeals court says

Corrections & Clarifications: An earlier version of this story misstated the way the Board of Immigration Appeals should handle the case.

CINCINNATI — A federal appeals court here ordered U.S. immigration officials Wednesday to reconsider evidence in the case of a Fairfield, Ohio, mother of four who was deported in April.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the federal Board of Immigration Appeals should not have rejected the motion to stop Maribel Trujillo-Diaz's removal. 

It is the second small victory for immigration advocates in the 6th Circuit in the past week after the court granted a temporary stay Friday for another Butler County resident facing deportation. The circuit, one of 13 appeals court divisions across the USA, covers cases in Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio and Tennessee.

The basis for the court's decision and order in the Trujillo-Diaz case is new testimony about threats from a major Mexican drug cartel to her father about her and her family.

"This is indeed good news but far from a victory," said the Rev. Mike Pucke, her pastor at St. Julie Billiart Catholic Church in Hamilton, Ohio.

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Trujillo-Diaz's lawyers filed the motion weeks before her deportation April 19.

The appeals court ruled that the board "abused its discretion, which is the highest bar," said Kathleen Kersh, one of Trujillo-Diaz's lawyers. "The court said the BIA had refused to thoroughly analyze the new evidence."

In February 2017, court records show, Trujillo-Diaz learned that her father had been kidnapped by the Knights Templar, a Mexican gang. He said that gang members were looking for his son, "Omar Daniel," who had refused to join the gang.

Gang leaders said they knew he had fled to the United States and that his sister, Trujillo-Diaz, was there, too. The gang threatened, court records show, "to hurt the rest of (the) family if they could not get their hands on Omar Daniel and Maribel."

The new evidence prompted Trujillo-Diaz to file a motion to reopen her case.

The case now moves from the federal appeals court to the Board of Immigration Appeals, a process that can take up to two months. In the meantime, Trujillo-Diaz's lawyers will continue their efforts to bring her back to the United States and her family.

"The best-case scenario is that the BIA remands that case back to an immigration judge to consider the new evidence," said Kersh, a staff attorney with Advocates for Basic Legal Equality in Dayton, Ohio. "It's significant that the 6th Circuit ruled that the evidence is compelling."

Trujillo-Diaz would be allowed to return to testify if a new hearing is granted before a judge.

Kersh spoke to her Wednesday after the court issued its decision.

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"She felt vindicated," the lawyer said. "She felt that for the first time someone listened to her, someone is taking her fears seriously. She said someone is now seeing her as an individual, not just another immigrant they want to kick out."

Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials in the Detroit regional office do not comment on cases that are in litigation.

"It's significant that the 6th Circuit feels the evidence is compelling," Kersh said. "We're hoping ICE will now listen to the gravity of her situation."

ICE deported her over the objections of the Cincinnati Archdiocese and Ohio Gov. John Kasich.

"This decision gives us a glimmer of hope that, someday soon, this family could be made whole again," said Tony Stieritz, director of Catholic Social Action for the archdiocese. "We reiterate our plea for mercy for Maribel, urging the administration to consider her asylum case as well as the will of the community that wants to see Maribel's family reunited."

The 6th Circuit also is considering the case of a Springdale, Ohio, man, Yancarlos Mendez, 27. He is a medical caregiver and financial provider for 6-year-old Ricky Solis, a U.S. citizen left paralyzed from the waist down in a February car crash. 

ICE agents ordered his removal in December and Jan. 4 denied a one-year delay on Mendez's deportation, which was set in motion after he was arrested for driving without a license in Butler County.

Late Friday, the appeals court granted Mendez's lawyers' request for a temporary stay of deportation. The government filed its response, and Mendez's lawyers will file its reply brief by 3 p.m. ET Thursday.

Trujillo-Diaz entered the United States illegally in February 2002. She was entered into the nation's immigration system when she was arrested in 2007 along with 160 other workers during an immigration raid at a chicken processing plant in Fairfield.

Since that time, she has twice sought — and been denied — asylum in the United States, citing fear of Mexican cartels. 

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Supporters of President Trump had hailed the high-profile deportation as a positive change and toughening in the enforcement of U.S. immigration laws.

In a phone interview late in April from Mexico, Trujillo-Diaz told The Washington Post that she feared that drug cartels were tapping the line. She did not want to reveal where she was living and said she needed to remain vague in her answers.

She said she was concerned about conditions in Mexico but was far more worried about her family in Ohio, especially her epileptic daughter, who was 3 at the time.

Follow Mark Curnutte on Twitter: @MarkCurnutte