A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to retrieve a Colombian woman from the Democratic Republic of Congo, ruling that her deportation to a country that never agreed to accept her violated the law.
U.S. District Judge Richard Leon issued the order Wednesday, finding that Adriana María Quiroz Zapata's removal was "likely illegal." The 55-year-old, who manages diabetes and thyroid disease, was deported to a nation that explicitly refused her entry, leaving her without adequate medical support in a foreign country.
"She has been sent to a country that refused to accept her because they cannot provide sufficient medical care," the ruling stated. "As a result, she faces a daily risk of medical complications, up to and including death."
Court documents detail visible signs of Quiroz Zapata's declining health. Black spots emerged on her back and foot during her detention, her skin began peeling, and her nails blackened. Her attorney, Lauren O'Neal, described her client's condition bluntly: "She's not doing well and does worry that she's going to die."
Since arriving in the U.S. from Mexico in August 2024, Quiroz Zapata was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement before being deported. She now lives in a locked hotel in Kinshasa, the DRC capital, where she and other deportees are confined with minimal freedom of movement and rarely allowed outside without supervision.
Quiroz Zapata's case reflects a broader pattern of third-country deportations that have accelerated under the current administration. Thousands of immigrants with pending asylum claims were suddenly issued expulsion orders sending them to nations where they have no ties or family connections.
Advocacy groups estimate the White House has issued more than 15,000 third-country deportation orders, though only a fraction have actually been executed. The U.S. has negotiated agreements with Ecuador, Honduras, Uganda, Cameroon, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to accept these deportees, but few public details about the terms exist. Groups tracking the issue believe only a couple of hundred of these deportations have been completed.
Author James Rodriguez: "A judge calling a deportation likely illegal while a person sits confined in a locked hotel overseas is exactly the kind of contradiction that demands answers from the administration."
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