'No words': Expert horrified as Trump deports woman victimized by domestic abuse
The Trump administration left an immigration expert floored after deporting a woman who had gone to the police to secure justice against her husband for leveling death threats — despite Congress having created a visa program explicitly to protect people in that precise situation.
The case, originally reported by the Los Angeles Times, concerns an undocumented woman known only as "Carmen."
"Carmen’s abusive husband came home drunk one night last summer. He pounded and kicked the door. He threatened to kill her as her young son watched in horror. She called police, eventually obtaining a restraining order. Months later he returned and beat her again. Police came again and he was eventually deported," reported Rachel Uranga. "Thinking she finally escaped his cruelty, Carmen applied for what is known as a U-Visa. The visa provides crime victims a way to stay in the United States legally."
However, according to the report, that application was left to gather dust — and then, "During a regular immigration check-in in June, Carmen was detained. Two months later, she was put on a plane with her 8-year-old son, who just completed second grade. She was headed to her home country, terrified her husband would find her."
Carmen, according to the report, is one of several deportees represented by a group of lawyers who in October "sued the Trump administration in the Central District of California for detaining and deporting survivors with pending visa applications, some of whom have been granted status to stay and sometimes work."
A number of deportation cases under the Trump administration have triggered public outrage, one of the most high-profile being Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was shipped off to the infamous Salvadoran CECOT megaprison despite a court order prohibiting his deportation to that country, then after months was repatriated only for the administration to slap dubious gang charges on him and shop around for a deal for any other country to accept him.