The Trump administration is working to bring a transgender woman back to the United States after immigration officials wrongly deported her in violation of a federal judge’s order.
Britania Uriostegui Rios, a Mexican transgender woman who came to the U.S. in 2003 and later became a lawful permanent resident, lost that status in 2023 after pleading guilty to felony assault with a deadly weapon, according to The Guardian.
She received a suspended sentence for the assault conviction, then was sent to a men’s immigration detention facility as officials prepared to deport her to Mexico.
Her lawyers argued she would be in grave danger if sent back to Mexico, where transgender women are frequently targeted and murdered because of their gender identity.
In March, Immigration Judge Elaine Cintron ruled that Uriostegui would likely face torture, persecution, or even death if returned to Mexico, and barred the Trump administration from deporting her under the United Nations Convention Against Torture.
Yet despite that order, Uriostegui’s lawyers told Politico that on November 11 she was taken from a Louisiana detention center, moved to Texas, and put on a bus bound for Mexico.
“ICE confirmed that your client was removed to Mexico inadvertently,” a Justice Department attorney wrote in a November 12 email filed in federal court, acknowledging that Uriostegui had been deported in error.
“ICE stands ready to remedy the inadvertent removal by allowing your client to voluntarily reenter the United States if your client wishes to do so,” the attorney followed up the next day.
In practical terms, if Uriostegui can reach the U.S.-Mexico border safely, she will be taken back into ICE custody while the administration arranges to deport her to a different country.
According to a court filing, the Trump administration has, since March, tried — and failed — to deport her to several Central American countries, including Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, and El Salvador.
Uriostegui is now suing to compel the Trump administration to release her should she return, arguing the government can’t be trusted to follow the law or obey a judge’s order if she remains in custody.
Her attorney, Bridget Pranzatelli, told CNN that Uriostegui “is a trans woman who has been through extreme trauma,” including being trafficked by cartels at age 12 and suffering lasting mental health issues.
Uriostegui is currently staying with a relative in Mexico, but has had to hide her gender identity for fear she’ll be kicked out if she’s honest about who she is.
According to CNN, Uriostegui’s case is the fifth time the Trump administration has wrongly removed someone who was protected by a court order or special immigration status while pursuing its mass deportation agenda.
The American Civil Liberties Union noted that the mistake came to light only because Uriostegui had legal representation — and blasted the Trump administration’s readiness to violate court orders.
“The administration says that the immigration courts ultimately are the final arbiters on these issues and decisions…yet they still flagrantly violated it,” Nora Ahmed, the legal director for the ACLU of Louisiana told The Guardian.
“There can be no excuse for that,” she continued. “It’s not an ‘oops.’ How can you ‘oops’ if someone dies?”
Ibrar Nadeem, an aide to Republican gubernatorial nominee Jack Ciattarelli, bragged to Muslim supporters about the candidate's past opposition to marriage equality during a "Muslims4Jack" event in Piscataway, New Jersey on October 18.
"We want to have a ban on same-sex marriage," Nadeem said, as recorded in a video posted to X.
Nadeem went on to note that Ciattarelli had voted against legalizing marriage equality as a New Jersey state assemblyman and claimed that his preferred candidate would continue to oppose it.
On Monday, November 10, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected former Kentucky county clerk and same-sex marriage opponent Kim Davis' appeal of a lower court's decision against her -- including a petition demanding that the court revisit and overturn its landmark ruling legalizing same-sex marriage.
The nation's highest court denied a writ of certiorari, which would have signaled its intention to review Davis' case -- and the 2015 Obergefell v. Hodgesdecision, which struck down state-level bans on same-sex marriage. It would have taken four justices to agree to hear Davis' challenge.
The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that cisgender students may repeatedly and intentionally misgender transgender classmates, invalidating an Ohio school district's policies that sought to stop the practice.
In a 10-7 decision, the court found that Olentangy Local School District's prohibition on using "gendered language they know is contrary to the other student's identity," including pronouns and honorifics, infringes on the rights of students who believe there are only two genders.
The challenged policies include an anti-harassment rule prohibiting "discriminatory harassment" or bullying based on gender identity and other protected traits that "places a student or school employee in reasonable fear of harm," interferes with education or work, or disrupts school operations, according to The Associated Press.
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