![Judge Gonzalo Curiel. / [Image by US District Court Southern District of California via Wikimedia, Public Domain]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2017/8/23/660x290/b_502x220x82/judge-gonzalo-curiel-image-by-us-district-court-southern-district-of-california-via-wikimedia-public-domain_1528883.jpg "Judge Gonzalo Curiel. / [Image by US District Court Southern District of California via Wikimedia, Public Domain]")
It's been reported that the court case of a DREAMer who was supposed to be protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival (DACA) program but was deported anyway, is currently being handled by a federal district judge who is looking into potential violations by the trump administration. The judge is currently working to get the administration to hear Juan Manuel Montes' argument on his status after holding hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday with attorneys representing both sides. Overall, Curiel also wants to see Montes for himself to determine his well-being.
Juan Manuel Montes is the first of two DREAMers since the DACA act reported to be detained by border patrol but the only one to be deported.
DHS claims no record of deportation
The judge handling the case is Gonzalo Paul Curiel who is pressing attorneys on both sides for an immediate trial in order to resolve the case quickly, especially since the Trump administration claims that there is no record showing when Montes was initially deported. The administration, via the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), has also provided conflicting statements where they made false claims about Montes' status only to correct themselves later. Judge Curiel said during the hearings this week that he had never seen a case where border enforcement did not have a record of deporting someone.
It was reported that Montes was in Calexico, California, standing outside of a restaurant in February when he was approached by a border agent. He was then detained because he did not have any documentation, was questioned for two hours and forced to walk into a neighborhood into Mexico. He apparently tried to jump the border wall a few days later, but was caught by border agents and deported again.
With DHS claiming that there was no record for the first deportation, it's likely that they do have records for the second in order to reinforce the administration's manipulated and therefore only proof that Montes tried to enter illegally and therefore, was appropriately deported.
Manipulating the argument, typical Trump
But by not producing documentation for the first deportation, the administration is able to better defend their claim that Montes "voluntarily" left the U.S.
and therefore deny that he had been detained and deported. Montes said that he tried to tell the agents that he was protected under the DACA program but they ignored him. Judge Curiel clearly doesn't have much to work with under the claims by DHS and is pushing for an immediate trial to better determine the issue. This is especially the case since DHS also made the mistake of first saying the Montes' DACA protection had expired in 2015, only to confirm it was still active the following day and refer back to their argument that he voluntarily left, thus, forfeiting his protection.
Judge Curiel has "tangoed" with Donald Trump before he became president, where he handled the case over Trump University last year.
Trump made headlines than when he said that Curiel needed to recuse himself from the case because as a Hispanic judge, he would be biased against him. His reasoning was because he was going to build a wall between the Mexican-American border.
