Federal Judge Orders Government to Return Deported Father of Former Marine Sergeant

Press Release

For Immediate Release: Wednesday, September 9, 2026

Media Contact

Edward Barsoumian, Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law

press@centerforhumanrights.org, 408-807-2010

SAN DIEGO, CA - Yesterday, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to permit the return to the United States of Esteban Rios Sosa under the Deferred Action status he held when Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) deported him last fall. ICE targeted Mr. Rios Sosa and his wife while they attempted to visit their pregnant daughter and active-duty Marine son-in-law at Camp Pendleton Marine Base in North County San Diego. They were accompanied by his then-Marine Sergeant son and produced valid documents of their Deferred Action status. However, the government reneged on their assurances that they would not take enforcement action against him and disregarded his Deferred Action status when they summarily deported him to Mexico. After nearly one year of separation, the court has now ordered DHS to permit Mr. Rios Sosa to return to the United States and reunite with his wife, adult U.S. citizen children, and grandchildren – and to meet his youngest grandson for the first time.

“I am happy that justice was done in my case and that I will finally reunite with my family. My hope is that no one has to live through the suffering and anguish that my family experienced over the past year,” said Esteban Rios Sosa.

Last month, the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law brought forth a federal lawsuit that alleged the government violated Mr. Rios Sosa’s rights under the Fifth Amendment’s Due Process Clause and the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) when it detained and deported him. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration (USCIS) granted Mr. Rios Sosa Deferred Action after determining his U visa application is “bona fide” in early 2025. Mr. Rios is a derivative applicant of his wife’s U visa petition, an immigration benefit she applied for after surviving a violent 2006 attack that required surgery and left her with lasting trauma, and which Mr. Rios Sosa witnessed. 

Under previous administrations, Mr. Rios Sosa’s Deferred Action status would have protected him from detention and deportation. However, in January 2025, the Trump administration issued a memo rescinding longstanding protections for immigrant survivors of serious crimes and authorizing their routine arrest, detention, and deportation for the first time in decades. A federal judge has temporarily restored those protections in a separate lawsuit, ICWC v. Noem, No. 2:25-CV-09848-AB-AS (C.D. Cal.), also led by the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law. 

Yesterday’s court order echoed the rationale in the ICWC v. Noem order, concluding that ICE violated Mr. Rios Sosa’s Fifth Amendment Due Process rights when it summarily deported him while he was in valid U visa Deferred Action status. Despite objections from the government that the court did not have authority to do so, the federal judge hearing the case ordered the government to permit Mr. Rios Sosa’s immediate return in the Deferred Action status he had prior to the wrongful removal.  

“The government made a promise to protect Mr. Rios Sosa against arbitrary enforcement when it granted him Deferred Action, and it broke that promise when it summarily deported him last fall. Yesterday’s court order is a victory for Mr. Rios Sosa and for all courageous immigrant survivors who the government made a commitment to protect but betrayed instead.” said Monika Y. Langarica, Deputy Legal Director at the Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law and counsel for Mr. Rios Sosa. “We will continue to hold the Department of Homeland Security accountable for broken promises and for violations of the law and Constitution.”   

Background on the U visa: 

More than two decades ago, Congress enshrined its commitment to protecting immigrant crime survivors through landmark legislation. The creation of the U visa provided survivor protections and a pathway to U.S. citizenship - a benefit for noncitizen victims of crime and their immediate relatives who assist with law enforcement investigation or prosecution of that crime. Congress created these protections to enhance public safety, ensuring immigrant communities can cooperate with law enforcement without fearing deportation. Extending these protections to qualifying relatives as derivative petitioners not only advances public safety – it upholds the core purpose of the legislation and preserves family unity. The law is clear and the Trump administration must be held accountable to Congress’s decades-long promise to protect immigrant survivors of crime. 

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The Center for Human Rights and Constitutional Law (CHRCL) is a legal non-profit committed to protecting and advancing the rights of immigrants through legal action, advocacy, and education. Through impact litigation, we challenge unlawful immigration policies to drive systemic change and establish stronger legal protections for immigrants. At the local, state, and federal levels, we advocate for fair and humane policies that uphold the rights of all immigrants.