A Honduran wife of Patrick Keating, who claims to be a staunch Donald Trump's supporter and voter, is facing possible deportation after a Houston judge refused to pause her case.
Anyi Hernandez-Escobar faces deportation, and her family could be separated in Bellaire, Texas, her lawyer said.
Keating and his parents supported Trump, expecting him to target criminals. However, family member Ingrid said immigration had been 'such a mess for so many years', and acknowledged it was easier to overlook when it did not affect her immediate relatives.
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'If I could go back, if my vote would somehow change everything, I'd go back and vote Kamala just so we don't have to deal with this,' Keating said.
Hernandez-Escobar cannot vote but also supported removing criminals. 'Now, it doesn't matter if you're a good person or a bad person,' she said.
Ingrid's support for Trump has continued despite the family's circumstances. 'I still like a lot of what he's done, though not everything,' she said.
Hernandez-Escobar arrived from Honduras in 2018, eight months pregnant. After four days in detention following her crossing into Texas, she received parole allowing her to stay temporarily.
She reunited with her sister in Texas. She attended required immigration check-ins and later married Keating, who helped raise her son Daniel. Their daughter Emma was born in May 2025.
The couple waited almost two years for approval of their marriage-related immigration filings. They knew marriage to a US citizen would not automatically give Hernandez-Escobar legal status, nor would having American-born children prevent removal.
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Attorney Jennifer Lopez linked the ruling to a June agreement between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the Department of Justice ending a Biden-era policy allowing judges to administratively close certain cases.
Lopez said the judge had previously indicated he would close Hernandez-Escobar's case while she pursued immigration status through her marriage. 'They did that, but by the time they got back to him, Trump had been sworn in and they had changed all the rules,' she said.
Under the route Lopez described, Hernandez-Escobar would need to return to Honduras, seek an immigrant visa through the US consular process and obtain a waiver of inadmissibility.
Her removal proceedings block access to that waiver, the lawyer said. Administrative closure would have allowed her to seek the waiver while her case was temporarily paused.
Without administrative closure, Lopez said the family might have little choice but to relocate to Honduras.
Daniel's custody arrangements present another obstacle. Keating has raised the seven-year-old since he was about 18 months old but has no custodial rights. The boy's biological father, who lives in Maryland, has reportedly refused to surrender those rights and does not communicate with his son.
'But both parents have to sign off on the passport,' Keating said. 'The scary part would be that Daniel can get lost in the legal foster care system, or somehow end up with a man he doesn't know,' he said.
Ingrid and her husband face taking on childcare as they approach retirement. The family is paying a family-law attorney to explore whether Keating can adopt Daniel. They are also considering whether the boy could stay with his grandparents if his mother, stepfather and sister leave for Honduras.
