Maria Flores Garcia and her mother were detained by ICE after attending an immigration check in in Baltimore (Courtesy of Cesar Saavedra)
BETHESDA, Md. - A University of Maryland (UMD) freshman and her mother are facing deportation to Mexico as a court order prevents them from being deported to their native country of El Salvador, their attorney said Friday.
What we know:
Maria Jose Flores Garcia, 19, and her mother Mirna Aracely Garcia Cabrera were taken into ICE custody on Nov. 5 during a routine check-in in Baltimore. Flores Garcia’s boyfriend previously told FOX 5 that officers gave her the option to leave, but she refused to separate from her mother, leading officers to detain them both.
Both women are currently being held at an immigration detention center in Louisiana.
Neither Flores Garcia nor her mother has a criminal record, according to their attorney. Several local and state leaders have called for their release and condemned immigration enforcement actions that target families with community roots rather than individuals who pose a public safety threat.
The backstory:
Flores Garcia arrived in the United States from El Salvador in 2019 at the age of 9. She went on to become the valedictorian of Parkdale High School’s class of 2016 in Prince George's County, where she delivered a speech about the challenges of coming to the U.S. She earned a full scholarship to UMD, where she studies public health with the goal of becoming an emergency room doctor, attorneys said.
When Flores Garcia and her mother first arrived in the U.S., they were placed in removal proceedings and requested protection from the immigration court. On Feb. 23, 2021, an immigration judge in Baltimore granted them protection under the Convention Against Torture, a measure reserved for individuals who would likely face torture if returned to their home country, their attorney said.
READ MORE | UMD freshman, mother face deportation under 2021 removal orders, DHS says
According to Justice Haynes, an immigration attorney with Murray Osorio PLLC representing the family, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) never appealed the 2021 ruling and has not moved to terminate the protection order. While the legal team noted that the order does not provide a pathway to permanent residence, it allowed the family to work legally and establish stability in the U.S.
What they're saying:
"Under immigration law, a judge can only grant this protection together with a removal order," Haynes said.
He explained that the Feb. 23, 2021 final order of removal issued against Flores Garcia is the exact same decision that protects her.
"The judge entered that order and, in the same decision, barred the government from carrying it out by sending them to El Salvador."
However, Haynes stated that the government now plans to deport the mother and daughter to Mexico under a March 2025 DHS policy that uses third-country removals to send individuals with protection orders to countries where they have no ties.
Haynes noted that while holding a Convention Against Torture protection almost always meant a person remained in the U.S. back in 2021, that changed in 2025 under the Trump administration's new policy.
Haynes warned that deporting the pair to Mexico undermines their court-ordered protection, noting that Mexico regularly buses Salvadorans deported from the U.S. back to El Salvador, even if they hold U.S. protection orders.
"The judge’s order says ICE can’t send Maria and Mirna to El Salvador," Haynes said. "So ICE wants to send them to a country that will."
The family's legal team is calling on ICE to release both women from custody.
"Maria and her mother did everything the government asked of them," Haynes said. "Mirna showed up for her ICE check-ins. Maria worked, graduated first in her class, and started college. They both had a court order protecting them from being sent back to El Salvador. Yet the government detained them at a routine check-in and now plans to send them to Mexico, a country that is not theirs, without letting a judge hear why they are afraid to go. That’s exactly what due process is supposed to prevent."
"We’re asking ICE to let them go home and give them a fair chance to be heard," Haynes added.
In response to a request for comment Friday, the Department of Homeland Security shared a previous statement, saying that Flores Garcia entered the U.S. illegally at an unknown time and was arrested in the Rio Grande Valley of Texas in December 2016. She began removal proceedings before being released into the country. According to DHS, Flores Garcia was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge in February 2021.
She will remain in ICE custody pending her deportation, DHS said. Officials also shared that Garcia Cabrera has previously been removed from the U.S.
The Source: Information in this article is from Immigration Attorney Justice Haynes with Murray Osorio PLLC and previous FOX 5 DC reporting.