Lawyers for First Known Deported DACA Recipient Ask the Court to Bring Juan Home

Amended complaint makes new allegations against the federal government

LOS ANGELES — Lawyers for Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez, a 23-year-old DACA recipient, filed an amended complaint in federal district court today alleging their client was unlawfully expelled from the United States in violation of the Constitution and federal law and requesting that he be returned to this country, which is his home.

The original lawsuit against U.S. immigration authorities, filed on April 18, 2017, sought only additional documentation to explain why Montes was removed from the country. This amended complaint challenges the unlawful nature of Montes’s removal. It comes after the federal government initially and erroneously denied that Montes had DACA and provided some limited documentation concerning Montes’s removal.

“We initially sought an answer to one simple question: What happened to Juan Manuel?” said Mónica Ramírez Almadani, an attorney with Covington & Burling LLP in Los Angeles. “The government’s response to date has been woefully inadequate. Their minimal responses have made only one thing clear: that Juan Manuel should never have been taken from his home in this manner.”

Before he was removed from the country, Montes worked in area agricultural fields and was pursuing a welding degree at his local community college.

The amended complaint alleges that Montes was stopped and questioned by a Border Patrol agent while he was walking to find a taxi near the Calexico port of entry. He was detained by the Border Patrol agent and, a few hours later, was expelled from the country.

Montes was a recipient of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, a program that allows immigrant youth to apply for temporary work authorization and deferral from deportation for two years, subject to renewal for another two years. Though the federal government initially denied that Montes had DACA when he was removed from the U.S., it later acknowledged that Montes did have DACA at the time he was removed and that it was not set to expire until 2018.

“The federal government made a promise to Mr. Montes,” said Karen Tumlin, legal director of the National Immigration Law Center. “He came forward, paid a fee, subjected himself to a background and biometric check. In return, he was promised that he would be protected from deportation. The federal government broke its promise without providing due process and by violating federal laws and regulations.”

For more information about Montes Bojorquez v. USCBP, visit www.nilc.org/issues/litigation/montes-v-uscbp/.

A copy of the complaint filed today is available at www.nilc.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Juan-Manuel-Montes-Bojorquez-Amended-Complaint.pdf

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