The Donald Trump administration's third-country deportation, a new policy that they have come up with where a migrant is sent to a third country where they have no connection, received a huge blow after a federal judge Wednesday ordered the administration to bring back a Colombian woman to the US. 55-year-old Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata was sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo though the DRC refused to accept her. Judge Richard J Leon of the US District Court for DC ordered the return of the woman as soon as possible and ordered the Trump administration to provide a status update by 5 pm Friday on steps taken to facilitate her return, the New York Times reported.
Quiroz Zapata entered the US in August 2024 fleeing Colombia and her former partner, a man tied to the Colombian national police. She got a court order that she would not be deprted back to Colombia as she was likely to face persecution back home. As the Trump administration sought a third country to deport Quiroz Zapata, the DRC in April formally refused to accept her due to the required medical assistance the country could not adequately guarantee, the document says. The woman has diabetes, hyperlipidemia and hypothyroidism.
