A federal judge stated Friday that a two-year-old US citizen and her mother were deported to Honduras. According to records released by the Trump administration, her mother requested that officials accompany her.

According to US District Judge Terry Doughty, the youngster, known in court filings as V.M.L., was freed in Honduras on Friday afternoon, along with her mother, who is an unauthorised immigrant.

The family’s lawyers filed an emergency petition on Thursday, asking the court to order the child’s “immediate release” by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, claiming they “lack any statutory or constitutional authority” to detain her as a US citizen.

The infant was born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, on January 4, 2023, according to the petition. According to the petition, the kid was detained by ICE on Tuesday morning, along with her mother and 11-year-old sister, when the mother was “attending a routine check-in” with the federal agency.

“In the interest of dispelling our strong suspicion that the government just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process,” Judge Doughty said in the ruling. A hearing is planned for May 16 in Monroe, Louisiana.

“It is illegal and unconstitutional to deport, detain for deportation, or recommend deportation of a U.S. citizen,” the judge added, citing a 2012 deportation case.

According to Doughty, the federal government believes the situation is acceptable because the mother wishes to deport the child alongside her. However, the court is unaware of this.

The court records filed by the government opposing the petition said that the child’s mother “made known to ICE officials she wanted to retain custody of V.M.L.” in a handwritten message and requested that the youngster accompany her to Honduras.

Requests for response from Honduran authorities, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement, family lawyers, and the US Justice Department were not immediately returned.

Approximately an hour after the mother and her two daughters entered the agency’s New Orleans office, the father received a phone call from the agency informing him that “the family had all been taken to the immigration office and gave him an address,” according to the petition.

When the father arrived at the address, which took him to the ICE field office in New Orleans, officials handed him a paper stating that the mother was “under their custody” and that they could not provide him with any other information, but V.M.L’s mother “would call him soon,” according to the petition.

An ICE officer then contacted the father’s attorney, informing him that the mother’s deportation “was certain and he believed they were all in a hotel,” but refused to disclose the location or facilitate a legal call between the attorney and the child’s mother, according to the petition.

The father was contacted again the same day by an ICE official, who informed him that the mother was in their custody and that the mother and daughters would be deported, according to court filings. “He overheard his girls and partner crying. “He reminded V.M.L.’s mother that their daughter was a US citizen and could not be deported,” the documents state.

According to the petition, before the father could finish giving the mother contact information for their attorneys, he overheard an ICE officer “take the phone from her and hang up the call.”

According to the paperwork, the father then proceeded to award his sister-in-law, a US citizen living in Baton Rouge, provisional custody of his two girls. The mandate was notarised in Louisiana.

According to the petition, ICE declined to honour the father’s request to release V.M.L. to the sister-in-law, claiming “it was not needed” because the child was already with her mother, and advised the father that if he attempted to pick her up, he would be detained.

According to court documents, the mother stated in a letter that she intended to bring her daughter to Honduras.

The government said the “man claiming to be V.M.L.’s father” has not presented or identified himself to ICE despite demands to do so, the court filings say.

“V.M.L. is not at substantial risk of irreparable harm if kept with her lawful custodian mother,” the government said.