Judge Orders Return of 55-Year-Old Colombian Deported to DRC Despite Country’s Refusal
Updated
Updated · Foreign Policy In Focus · May 20
Judge Orders Return of 55-Year-Old Colombian Deported to DRC Despite Country’s Refusal
7 articles · Updated · Foreign Policy In Focus · May 20
Judge Richard Leon on May 13 ordered the U.S. to bring back Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata, a 55-year-old Colombian woman deported to the Democratic Republic of Congo; she remains there and the administration has not complied.
Written refusal by the DRC to accept Zapata on medical grounds undercut the deportation, which appears to violate a federal requirement that a third country consent before receiving a removed migrant.
Her case spotlights the Trump administration’s use of third-country removals as a workaround when deportation to a person’s home country is blocked, and suggests that tactic has legal limits of its own.
At least five people wrongfully removed since January 2025 have won court orders requiring their return, though compliance has been uneven and some remain abroad.
When courts order deportees returned, why does the government sometimes fail to comply?
A court blocked a deportation to a third country. What does this mean for future U.S. immigration policy?
With thousands of illegal detentions, can federal courts truly fix a 'quantity-focused' deportation system?
Wrongful Deportation, Judicial Intervention: Adriana Quiroz Zapata and the Crisis of Trump’s Third-Country Policy
Overview
This report examines the wrongful deportation of Adriana Maria Quiroz Zapata, a Colombian asylum seeker who legally arrived in the U.S. in 2024 and was protected by a judge’s order against return to Colombia. Despite this, she was issued a deportation decree and sent to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), even though the DRC had refused to accept her. The U.S. proceeded with her deportation, resulting in her confinement in a locked hotel in Kinshasa. This case highlights the severe consequences of the Trump administration’s third-country deportation policy and the legal and humanitarian challenges it creates.