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Immigration officials have deported a father living here Alabama To laos The man’s lawyers said Tuesday that despite a federal court order barring his removal from the United States based on his citizenship claim.
U.S. District Judge Shelley Dick last week ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep Chanthila “Shawn” Souvannarath, 44, in the United States while she presented what the judge called a “substantial claim to U.S. citizenship,” court records show. He was born in a refugee camp Thailand But according to court filings, he was granted lawful permanent residence in the US before his first birthday.
But according to a screenshot shared with The Associated Press, Souvannarath messaged his wife on WhatsApp on Sunday and told her he was in Dongmakhai, Laos. The message ends with “Love you all”.
“It’s very unfortunate, especially for the children who are with us,” Beatrice Souvannarath told the AP.
Emails, phone calls and text messages to ICE and the US Department of Homeland Security were not immediately returned.
ACLU Louisiana, which is representing Souvannarath, called the deportation a “stunning violation of a federal court order.” Prior to his deportation, Souvannarath was detained at a newly opened ICE facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola.
“ICE ignored a federal court order and tore apart another family,” Alana Odoms, executive director of the ACLU of Louisiana, said in a statement. “This administration has shown that it will ignore the courts, ignore the Constitution, and ignore the law to pursue its mass deportation agenda, even if it means destroying the lives of American citizens.”
The deportations come as Trump administration officials repeatedly face off in courts over their efforts to deport large numbers of immigrants. There have been previous cases of US citizens being deported, including US-born children.
Chanthila Souvannarath was taken into ICE custody in June after his annual check-in with immigration officials in Alabama, where he was living, his wife said.
“When he went to investigate, they detained him. And our two young children were with him,” Beatrice Souvannarath told the AP. “It was the hardest two months of my life.”
He spent most of his childhood in Hawaii, Washington State, and California, living with one or both of his parents. His father, a native of Laos, is a naturalized American citizen, and Souvannarath claims his citizenship derives from that status.
“I have lived in the United States continuously since childhood,” Souvannarath wrote in a letter from immigration detention, “and I have always considered myself an American citizen.”
Souvannarath filed an emergency petition to delay his deportation. Dick, a federal judge based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, issued a temporary restraining order on Thursday, citing “irreparable harm caused by immediate deportation.”
“Although the government has an interest in enforcing its immigration laws, the potential removal of an American citizen is against the public interest,” wrote Dick, who was appointed to the federal bench by the president. Barack ObamaSouvannarath, he said, “will be unable to plead his case effectively from Laos.”
The court showed no changes in Souvannarath’s case since the judge issued a temporary restraining order, which was set to expire on November 6. Dick declined to comment through his office.
__Mustian reported from New York.