A former DACA recipient was taken by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for a second time and flown to Louisiana, though his deportation was postponed.
Javier Castillo Maradiaga’s deportation to Honduras planned for early Monday morning was stopped by President Joe Biden’s 100-day moratorium on most removals, but that decision was overturned by a Texas judge and ICE took action.
Maradiaga was on track to be deported Friday morning instead, but it has been temporarily delayed. In the meantime, he remains in ICE custody.
Maradiaga has been living in the United States since he was just 7 years old. His family says his DACA status expired in 2019 and out of fear of sharing personal information, they say he didn’t renew.
Rep. Ritchie Torres issued a statement that says in part, "ICE’s repeat game of threatening deportation and then delaying it abruptly has the effect of terrorizing Javier and his family. End the terror. Send Javier home to his family in the Bronx. Enough is enough."
Torres criticized ICE, saying that he believes it is continuing to execute the polices of former President Donald Trump instead of acting in accordance with the orders of President Biden.
A spokesperson for ICE told News 12 they denied his case to reopen in January of 2020.