Despite a court order blocking his removal, ICE has sent a 44-year-old Louisiana Lockup detainee with a “substantial claim” to American citizenship to Laos, where he is in custody, the Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday.

Chanthila Souvannarath, who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, received lawful permanent residence in the United States as a baby, Chief Judge Shelly Dick of the Middle District Court of Louisiana wrote in an Oct. 23 court decision.

Souvannarath had a “substantial claim” of citizenship, according to Dick. He said that because his father became a naturalized citizen, and because he entered his father’s sole custody at 13, he met the requirements for derivative citizenship and has been a U.S. citizen since childhood, Dick’s order says.

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Souvannarath has never been to Laos, according to the ACLU.

“ICE just ignored a federal court order and tore yet another family apart,” Alanah Odoms, executive director for the ACLU of Louisiana, said in a release. “This is the deportation of someone who has strong claims to American citizenship. 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.”

Archived at https://archive.is/Ou1JA