Man deported to Laos despite court order blocking his removal, attorneys say

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Immigration officials have deported a father living in Alabama to Laos despite a federal court order blocking his removal from the U.S. on the grounds he has a claim to citizenship, the man’s attorneys said Tuesday.

U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick last week ordered U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to keep Chanthila “Shawn” Souvannarath, 44, in the United States while he presented what the judge called his “substantial claim of U.S. citizenship,” court records show. He was born in a refugee camp in Thailand but was granted lawful permanent residence in the U.S. before his first birthday, according to court filings.

But Souvannarath on Sunday messaged his wife on WhatsApp and told her he was in Dongmakkhai, Laos, according to a screenshot she shared with The Associated Press. The message ends with “love y’all.”

“It is very unfortunate, especially for the children that we have together,” Beatrice Souvannarath told AP.

Emails, phone calls and text messages sent to ICE and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security were not immediately returned.

The ACLU of Louisiana, which is representing Souvannarath, called the deportation a “stunning violation of a federal court order.” Before his deportation, Souvannarath had been detained at a newly opened ICE facility at the Louisiana State Penitentiary at Angola.

“ICE just ignored a federal court order and tore yet another family apart,” said Alanah Odoms, executive director for the ACLU of Louisiana, in a statement. “This administration has shown it will ignore the courts, ignore the Constitution and ignore the law to pursue its mass deportation agenda, even if it means destroying the lives of American citizens.”

The deportation comes as Trump administration officials have repeatedly clashed with the courts over their attempts to deport large numbers of immigrants. There have been previous cases of U.S. citizens being deported, including U.S.-born children.

Chanthila Souvannarath was taken into ICE custody in June following an annual check-in with immigration authorities in Alabama, where he had been living, his wife said.

“When he went to check in, they detained him. And our two younger kids were with him,” Beatrice Souvannarath told AP. “It was the hardest two months of my life.”

He spent much of his childhood living with one or both of his parents in Hawaii, Washington state and California. His father, a native of Laos, is a naturalized U.S. citizen, and Souvannarath claims his citizenship derives from that status.

“I continuously lived in the United States since infancy,” Souvannarath wrote in a letter from immigration detention, “and I have always considered myself an American citizen.”

Souvannarath filed an emergency motion seeking to delay his deportation. Dick, the federal judge based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, issued a temporary restraining order Thursday, citing the “irreparable harm that would be caused by immediate deportation.”

“Though the government has an interest in the enforcement of its immigration laws, the potential removal of a U.S. citizen weighs heavily against the public interest,” wrote Dick, who was appointed to the federal bench by President Barack Obama. Souvannarath would be “unable to effectively litigate his case from Laos,” she added.

The court docket shows no changes in Souvannarath’s case since the judge issued the temporary restraining order, which was set to expire Nov. 6. Dick declined to through her office to comment.

__ Mustian reported from New York.