The uncomfortable story of Baby VML could become Donald Trump's Achilles heel

Washington D.C.: A federal judge has raised concerns that the Trump administration deported a two-year-old US citizen to Honduras with "no meaningful process," despite her father’s efforts to keep her in the country.

Politico reported that the US District Judge Terry Doughty, a Trump appointee, revealed that the child, identified as "V.M.L.", was released in Honduras on Friday alongside her Honduran-born mother and sister, who had been detained by immigration officials earlier in the week.

Judge Doughty scheduled a May 16 hearing to investigate the matter, stating it was necessary to address suspicions that the government "just deported a US citizen with no meaningful process". Court documents included V.M.L.’s redacted birth certificate, confirming she was born in New Orleans in 2023. The child and her family were detained during a routine ICE check-in on Tuesday and placed in deportation proceedings.

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The Trump administration argued that the mother consented to taking V.M.L. to Honduras, submitting a handwritten note in Spanish as evidence. However, Doughty expressed skepticism, noting the court had not verified the claim. The case began when family lawyers filed an emergency petition in Louisiana, seeking V.M.L.’s release and declaring her detention unlawful. The father, who sought custody, claimed ICE denied him a meaningful conversation with the mother about their child’s fate.

Judge Doughty attempted to contact the mother but learned the family had already been released in Honduras.