Judge orders US government to return Colombian woman deported to DR Congo | CNN

A federal judge on Wednesday ordered the Trump administration to return to the US a Colombian woman who was deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo, even after the African country refused to accept her. Judge Richard J. Leon of the US District Court for DC ordered the return of Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata, 55, as soon as possible and ordered the Trump administration to provide a status update by 5 p.m. Friday on steps taken to facilitate her return. The case is a rare instance of a federal judge ordering the return of a migrant deported under President Donald Trump’s sweeping immigration crackdown and comes as the administration faces backlash over its “third country” deportation policy, which deports immigrants to countries they have no ties to. Trump administration’s ‘third country’ deportation policy is unlawful, judge rules Quiroz Zapata was first placed into Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention after entering the US in August 2024, according to a court document shared by her lawyer, Lauren O’Neal. Quiroz Zapata had told The New York Times in an interview from the DRC that she fled Colombia to escape her former partner, a man tied to the Colombian na