The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced that the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) dropped its lawsuit alleging the department unlawfully deported a U.S. citizen child along with the child’s mother to Honduras. In an announcement Saturday, DHS referred to the suit as “baseless lawfare.”
The ACLU filed the lawsuit after ICE removed Jenny Carolina Lopez-Villela, an illegal alien and Honduran national. According to ICE, Villela chose to leave the United States with her two-year-old child. Shortly after the removal of Villela, the ACLU filed the lawsuit questioning the circumstances of the departure of Villela’s child against Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Department of Homeland Security.
According to the suit, Villela’s child, referred to in court documents as “V.M.L.,” was born on January 4, 2023, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Her mother and father are both named on her birth certificate. The legal action asserted that ICE took custody of V.M.L. along with Villela and her eleven-year-old sister on April 22, 2025, at a scheduled check-in appointment required under ICE’s Intensive Supervision Appearance Program.
According to ICE, Jenny Carolina Lopez-Villela illegally entered the United States on three occasions in September 2019, March 2021, and August 2021. She and her older daughter were deemed inadmissible the first time she entered the country. She and her older daughter were given final orders of removal in March 2020. According to ICE, when Villela was taken into custody during her check-in appointment, she presented a valid United States passport as proof that V.M.L. was a citizen of the United States.
Later, ICE says, Villela chose to bring her younger daughter, who is an American Citizen, with her to Honduras at the time of her removal. The ACLU has not offered any information concerning the rationale for dropping the legal action before U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty. A hearing had been set for May 16 by Doughty in the Western District of Louisiana.
DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLauglin commented on the ACLU’s decision to drop the lawsuit, saying, “The ACLU dropped its lawsuit on the false claims that DHS deported a U.S. citizen. The truth is, and has always been, that the mother—who was in the country illegally—chose to bring her 2-year-old with her to Honduras when she was removed. The narrative that DHS is deporting American children is false and irresponsible.”
DHS’s Saturday announcement included a statement saying the department takes its responsibility to protect children seriously and will continue to work with federal law enforcement to ensure that children are safe and protected. The department urges parents who are in the United States illegally to take control of their departure using the CBP Home smartphone application to “self-deport.”
The CBP Home application allows illegal aliens, including parents illegally in the United States, to announce and control their departure and self-deport, with the potential ability to return legally, according to DHS.
Randy Clark is a 32-year veteran of the United States Border Patrol. Before his retirement, he served as the Division Chief for Law Enforcement Operations, directing operations for nine Border Patrol Stations within the Del Rio, Texas, Sector. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @RandyClarkBBTX.
