SAN FRANCISCO — A federal judge on Tuesday said she will soon issue a ruling in a case that could potentially give a Livermore father deported to Mexico a path back to the U.S. to be reunited with his family.
For Miguel Lopez, who was deported this past summer, the decision in the U.S. District Court of Northern California could be his last chance to return to the Tri-Valley, where he raised his family and worked as a welder at a vineyard.
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson, after hearing from Lopez’s attorney and an assistant U.S. attorney, took the arguments under submission and expects to issue a tentative or full order by the next court date set for Oct. 30. Lopez, who is living outside of Mexico City, did not remotely attend the Tuesday afternoon hearing held in a San Francisco federal courtroom.
Afterward, Lopez’s attorney, Saad Ahmad, said he viewed the hearing as a positive step forward for Lopez’s case.
“I think we have a chance. I do believe we have a chance,” Ahmad said. “The judge wants this case to be decided.”
Elizabeth Kurlan, an assistant U.S. attorney, declined to comment outside of the courtroom.
Lopez mounted a legal defense after he was detained while appearing at a status hearing in San Francisco’s immigration court, taken to Bakersfield and dropped off by federal authorities at the U.S.-Mexico border near Tijuana in June.
The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s swift removal of Lopez, then 46, came the night before Judge Thompson ordered that he be allowed to remain in the U.S., writing that the situation dripped with “inequalities.”
On Tuesday, Kurlan had sought for the judge to dismiss Lopez’s case on grounds that his attorney’s arguments were “moot.”
Ahmad countered that Lopez never had an opportunity to argue for permanent residency and that his rights were violated when he was whisked away without a proper hearing. According to Ahmad, an immigration judge granted him the right to stay in the U.S. in 2012, only to have another court reverse course in 2014. He further argued that the district court should have jurisdiction over the matter, calling Lopez’s case “very unique.”
Before she makes a determination, Thompson asked that Ahmad provide case law he cited at Tuesday’s hearing.
Lopez, meanwhile, was visited last month by Congressman Eric Swalwell, whose district includes Livermore. On Sept. 10, Swalwell wrote a bill, H.R. 5294, petitioning Congress to grant Lopez citizenship and allow him to return to the US.
The bill is awaiting approval by the U.S. House of Representatives.
Check back for updates to this developing story.
