‘DREAMer’ drops deportation suit
Montes claims he was sent to Mexico illegally
Juan Manuel Montes, the first “DREAMer” who claims he was wrongly deported by immigration agents despite having protected status, has dropped his lawsuit against the Trump administration to gain re-entry into the United States.
Montes, 23, was enrolled in DACA — the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program — when he says he was forcibly returned to his native Mexico by Customs and Border Protection agents in the middle of the night on Feb. 19 from Calexico, Calif., where he lived with his family. The Trump administration has refuted that claim.
Montes is the only known DREAMer to claim being wrongly deported under President Trump, who has ordered a crackdown on illegal immigration but has tem- porarily spared DACA enrollees to give Congress time to pass a law that formally protects them from deportation.
A federal judge in San Diego agreed to hear the case and had been preparing to hold a trial in December, when Montes was expected to testify on his own behalf. But on Wednesday, Montes’ attorneys filed a notice with the judge explaining that their client had decided to drop the case and remain in Mexico.
On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel issued an order dismissing the case.
Marielena Hincapié, executive director of the National Immigration Law Center, part of a legal team representing Montes, said attorney-client privilege prevents her from explaining why he decided to drop the case. Montes has spent the past eight months in Mexico trying to avoid media attention and to establish a new life south of the border.
Hincapié made one point clear: Dropping the case does not mean Montes was recanting his story. “From the outset, Juan Manuel has been consistent and continues to be adamant about what happened to him. We stand by Juan Manuel,” she said. “But as his attorneys, we respect his wishes. He has a right to withdraw his case.”
The departments of Homeland Security and Justice did not respond immediately for comment.
The dismissal ends what has been a contentious six months over what happened that February night when Montes ended up back in Mexico, a country his family left when he was 9 years old.
Montes contended he was standing outside a restaurant in Calexico, when he was approached by a Border Patrol agent on bicycle patrol. Montes did not have his wallet on him to prove that he was enrolled in DACA, a program created by President Obama that has allowed nearly
800,000 undocumented immigrants brought to the USA illegally as children to remain.
Montes said the agent picked him up and deported him around
1 a.m. Feb. 19. Homeland Security refuted that account, saying it has no record of Montes being deported that night. The agency said Montes must have left on his own without permission from authorities, which resulted in the revocation of his protected status.
Both sides agree on what happened next: Montes tried to re-enter the U.S. the following night, was caught by Border Patrol agents and deported to Mexico.
When USA TODAY first reported on Montes’ case April 18, Homeland Security said his DACA status expired in 2015. The next day, the department changed its account, conceding his DACA status was active but was revoked after he voluntarily left the country.