Court orders repatriation of 55-year-old Colombian woman sent to Democratic Republic of Congo

The third-country deportation policy introduced by Donald Trump’s administration, a new policy of sending migrants to third countries with which they have no connections, took a huge blow Wednesday after a federal judge ordered the government to bring a Colombian woman back to the United States. Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata, 55, was sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo, although the country refused to accept her. U.S. District Judge Richard J Leon in Washington, D.C., ordered the woman’s expeditious removal and ordered the Trump administration to provide a status update by 5 p.m. Friday on steps it is taking to facilitate her removal, the New York Times reported.Quiroz Zapata fled Colombia and her ex-partner, a man with ties to the Colombian National Police, into the United States in August 2024. She received a court order saying she would not be deported to Colombia because she might face persecution at home. As the Trump administration sought to deport Quiros Zapata from third countries, the Democratic Republic of Congo in April formally refused to accept her because it could not adequately guarantee needed medical assistance, the documents said. The woman suffered from diabetes, hyperlipidemia and hypothyroidism.Two days after the DRC’s rejection, Quiroz Zapata was put on a flight from the United States to the DRC on April 16, where she remains today.“In any event, the government sent her to the Democratic Republic of the Congo,” the judge wrote, adding, “Accordingly, sending the plaintiff to the Democratic Republic of the Congo may have been unlawful.” The judge said Queiroz-Zapata’s argument “may well succeed” that sending her to the Democratic Republic of the Congo “may have violated the Immigration and Nationality Act.”“There is no doubt that plaintiff met the standard of irreparable harm. She was sent to a country that refused to accept her because they were unable to provide adequate medical care,” the judge wrote. “As a result, she faces a daily risk of medical complications, including death.”