DHS Accused of Removing Texas Father Without Court Order

Immigration authorities deported Ernesto Zuniga Hilario to Mexico after detaining him in Texas, he says, without a valid removal order or a meaningful chance to challenge the government’s decision. His attorneys want a federal judge to help bring him back. They argue authorities removed him despite his repeated refusal to leave voluntarily.

A removal without a chance to contest it

Zuniga Hilario’s attorneys filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas. The petition argues immigration authorities had no legal basis to deport him because he wasn’t subject to an expedited removal order or an order from an immigration judge.

The petition says Zuniga Hilario last entered the United States without inspection around 2008. Before his detention, he lived near Lometa, Texas. It identifies his wife, Obdulia Cervantes Vega, as a lawful permanent resident and says the couple has four U.S.-citizen children. Their family bears the consequences of decisions made by an immigration apparatus that, the filing says, never gave him a meaningful chance to challenge his removal.

Court filings say officers apprehended Zuniga Hilario as he traveled with his family for a therapy appointment. He was held at the T. Don Hutto detention facility in Taylor, Texas. An ICE detainee-locator record submitted as an exhibit also lists that facility as his detention location.

During detention, Zuniga Hilario alleges, officers repeatedly asked if he wanted to depart voluntarily. He says he declined because he wanted to present his case and expected to appear before an immigration judge. Instead, the petition alleges, authorities put him on a bus, took him to an airport and flew him to Mexico City. He says he didn't leave voluntarily.

Two accounts, one person removed

The Department of Homeland Security tells a different story. A spokesperson told Newsweek: “Any allegation that Ernesto Zuniga Hilario didn't receive due process is FALSE. Zuniga Hilario signed his voluntary departure form on September 6 in blue ink. He left the United States and returned to Mexico on September 16. Breaking our country's laws is always a bad decision.”

DHS said ICE arrested Zuniga Hilario on September 6 after a traffic stop conducted by the Lampasas County Sheriff's Office. The agency said he entered the United States illegally “at an unknown date and time by sneaking across our border on foot.” Its statement points to a signed form as its answer to his claim that he repeatedly refused voluntary departure and couldn't challenge his removal. The petition disputes that account.

Zuniga Hilario acknowledges previous encounters with immigration authorities but says none resulted in a removal order. His attorneys argue that if officials were reinstating an earlier removal order, they had to notify him and give him a chance to contest it. The filing also recognizes a jurisdictional hurdle: officials had already removed him when his lawyers filed the case. His attorneys argue the case differs because, they allege, the government removed him without an underlying order and without a meaningful opportunity to challenge its action.

The court is asked to undo the removal

The report describes a legal petition, not a community-organized effort. His attorneys ask a federal judge to facilitate his return. The filing brings the dispute before a court after immigration authorities carried out the removal, and whether the judge can provide that remedy remains an issue in the case.

Under the Trump administration's mass deportation policy, the report says, cases have involved wrongful deportations and removals carried out in defiance of court orders. Federal judges have challenged the administration over wrongful removals and, in some cases, ordered DHS to facilitate the return of people who were improperly deported. In Zuniga Hilario’s case, the petition asks the court to address what his attorneys describe as removal without a valid order or due process. DHS, for its part, insists he signed the form and says breaking the country’s laws is a bad decision.