(C) El Paso Matters.org
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El Paso federal court hearing could mark next standoff between Trump, judges [1]
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Date: 2025-04-22
A couple who fled Venezuela in 2022 and were paroled into the United States were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement at El Paso International Airport last week – after three judges had found they should not be held.
Cesar, 27, and his wife, Norelia, 34, will appear before an El Paso federal judge Wednesday as they fight again to be released from government custody.
The couple came to the United States after crossing into El Paso in October 2022 with their three children, turning themselves into U.S. Border Patrol agents at the border wall. They were paroled into the country and remain under protected temporary status. They both have applied for asylum.
El Paso Matters is not using the couple’s full names as they fear for their safety if they’re deported to Venezuela.
The couple, who work as hotel custodians, live in the Washington, D.C., area, and had come to El Paso on April 14 for a pretrial hearing on misdemeanor illegal entry charges. A magistrate judge that day maintained their release on bail and set another hearing for June 23. On their way back to Washington two days later, they were taken into custody by ICE at the El Paso airport.
A day later, on April 17, U.S. District Judge David Briones granted them a temporary restraining order prohibiting the government from removing them from El Paso or from deporting them – at least for now, court documents show. Another hearing for the government to show cause on why it believes the couple should be continued to be detained and deported will be held in Briones’ court Wednesday, April 23.
“They’re extremely distraught,” the couple’s attorney, Christopher Benoit of Benoit Legal, told El Paso Matters Tuesday. Benoit said the couple is especially worried about being separated from their children. “And having no certainty, even after a third time of courts ruling that they should not be detained, that this won’t happen again. It’s a roller coaster. It’s torture for them.”
The couple is being represented by Benoit and other attorneys under the National Immigration Project.
The couple’s temporary protected status – a type of humanitarian relief that allows some migrants from designated countries to live and work in the United States temporarily – was withdrawn by the Trump administration on April 1. They were given 31 days to appeal, allowing them to remain in the country legally during that time.
The couple’s case, which was first reported by the Washington Post, is one of many that illustrates the Trump administration’s sweeping actions on mass deportations – in many cases without due process and in defiance of the courts.
Trump on March 15 issued a proclamation attempting to invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to remove Venezuelans with alleged ties to the Tren de Aragua gang, which had been designated a foreign terrorist organization. Deportations under the act remain blocked by a federal judge.
Cesar and Norelia’s court journey
The couple’s saga began on March 10, when they were arrested in front of their crying children at their Washington home on criminal warrants issued in El Paso on the misdemeanor offense of unlawful entry. The warrant was filed on Feb. 27 this year – just about a month after Trump took office – though the alleged offense date was Oct. 13, 2022.
“They both work multiple jobs, including for a professional cleaning company,” Benoit said about the couple, adding that they volunteer to take meals to those in need. “They’re been very centered and foundational parts of their community – until they were arrested on March 10 for the first time.”
On March 12, a magistrate judge for the District of Columbia ordered they be released pending their trial. A day later, U.S. Marshals placed them in ICE custody and the two were taken to the ICE field office in Chantilly, Virginia, according to court records. They were released later that day and told to report back April 29.
However, on March 21, the couple were driving with their 4-year-old in Suitland, Maryland, when they were stopped by masked agents, arrested and taken back into ICE custody in Chantilly. They were processed and served with notices to appear for removal, records show.
Cesar was transferred to the Farmville Detention Center and Norelia to the Caroline Detention Facility, both in Virginia.
A week later, on March 28, the couple appeared before U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Alexandria, Virginia.
Brinkema asked why Cesar and Norelia were being held. Citing immigration statutes, Matthew J. Mezger of the U.S. Attorney’s Office responded that the couple was being detained because they were a “threat to public safety,” according to court transcripts.
The judge asked if there was any “genuine evidence” of their threat, to which Mezger replied that Norelia was a “well admitted affiliate” of the Tren de Aragua gang, adding that she admitted to being a member and that ICE investigated and validated she was a member of the gang, documents state.
Benoit said Norelia denies ever stating that, and said she’s not a member of TDA.
Brinkema questioned a statement submitted under Erik Weiss, the assistant field director of the ICE ERO Office in Washington, D.C., who was not in the courtroom that day, calling it the “sorriest statement” she’d ever seen.
The judge cited a paragraph from the statement that, according to court transcripts, said Norelia was previously married to a TDA member – from whom she separated 10 years ago and who was killed by the Venezuelan government due to his affiliation. Norelia also stated she’s from the town of Aragua where the TDA is based, according to the transcripts.
Norelia “is a senior member of the TDA,” another paragraph in the statement attributed to Weiss reads.
“How do you get from somebody who was married possibly 10 years ago to a TDA gang member, marriage, all of a sudden she’s a senior member?” Brinkema asked, according to the affidavit.
The judge granted the petition, saying the couple is under protected status and ordered they be released.
On April 1, DHS withdrew their temporary protection status, giving them until May 4 to file an appeal.
In the meantime, the couple traveled to El Paso for an April 14 pretrial hearing on their misdemeanor unlawful entry charges. U.S. Magistrate Judge Anne T. Berton maintained their release on bail and set a subsequent pretrial conference for June 23, records show.
But on April 16, when the couple was at the El Paso airport about to board a plane back to Washington, they were detained by ICE agents.
According to court records, the agents who detained them stated that they did so because they had not yet appealed the withdrawal of their Temporary Protected Status – even though they were well within the window of their appeal deadline.
The El Paso ICE Division of Enforcement and Removal Operations on April 21 posted on X that a “senior member” of Tren de Aragua known as “La Licenciada” was in custody and was awaiting removal. The post showed a photo of Norelia in handcuffs, being escorted into a black vehicle by two plain-clothed women.
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[1] Url:
https://elpasomatters.org/2025/04/22/couple-faces-deportation-venezuela-el-paso-court-tren-de-aragua/
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