US judges rule for Mexican woman deported in 2017

CINCINNATI (AP) — A federal appeals court is ordering U.S. immigration authorities to reconsider the case of a Mexican mother of four U.S.-born children who was returned to Mexico last year amid criticism by Cincinnati’s Catholic archdiocese and Ohio’s governor.

A three-judge panel of the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today ruled in favor of Maribel Trujillo Diaz, saying the Board of Immigration Appeals shouldn’t have rejected her motion to reopen removal proceedings. She filed her motion just weeks before her April 19, 2017, deportation.

Her case drew attention as an early example of stepped-up immigration enforcement under Republican President Donald Trump.

The judges said immigration authorities should reconsider her case because of evidence she was threatened by a Mexican drug cartel.

An immigration spokesman declined to comment.