For Trump, familiar judge gets case of deported Mexican
SAN DIEGO — A case involving a man who was deported to Mexico despite having permission to be in the U.S. under a program that shields young immigrants has landed in the courtroom of a judge whose impartiality was questioned by Donald Trump during the presidential campaign because of his Mexican heritage.
U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel in San Diego was assigned the case of Juan Manuel Montes, 23, whose attorneys say could be the first known person deported by the Trump administration who had qualified for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program. Montes sued Tuesday for access to records on his deportation.
The lawsuit came less than a month after Curiel approved a $25 million settlement in a case alleging the now-defunct Trump University misled customers. Trump repeatedly criticized the Indiana-born judge during the campaign, insinuating that his Mexican heritage exposed a bias in the case because of Trump’s tough line on illegal immigration.
The Department of Homeland Security said Wednesday that Montes was entitled to be in the U.S. until early next year under DACA, reversing its position a day earlier that his status had expired in August 2015 and wasn’t renewed.