ICE Deports Man to Laos Despite Federal Court Order Blocking Removal, Ignoring Torture and Persecution Risk

On October 25, 2025, Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Chanthila “Shawn” Souvannarath, 44, to Laos in direct violation of a federal court order issued just one day earlier. Chief Judge Shelly D. Dick of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Louisiana had issued a temporary restraining order on October 23 explicitly prohibiting ICE from removing Souvannarath from the United States, finding that he had a “substantial claim of U.S. citizenship” and that immediate deportation would cause “irreparable harm.” Despite this clear judicial command, ICE proceeded with the deportation on Friday, October 25.

Souvannarath was born in a refugee camp in Thailand and entered the United States before his first birthday with lawful permanent residence status. He lived most of his life in Arab, Alabama, with his wife and five children. His father is a naturalized U.S. citizen, which under immigration law at the time would have allowed Souvannarath to claim derivative citizenship as a minor when his father naturalized and obtained sole custody. In a letter written from detention, Souvannarath stated: “I continuously lived in the United States since infancy, and I have always considered myself an American citizen.”

In June 2025, Souvannarath was detained by ICE during what was supposed to be a routine annual immigration check-in. Two of his younger children were with him when he was taken into custody. At the time of detention, he was being held at the Camp 57 detention facility inside Louisiana’s Angola prison, a former slave plantation that now operates as a maximum-security prison.

Judge Dick issued her temporary restraining order on October 23, 2025, ordering ICE to keep Souvannarath in the United States for 14 days while the court could fully adjudicate his claim to U.S. citizenship. The order came in response to a habeas corpus petition Souvannarath had filed pro se seeking recognition of his citizenship and release from detention. Despite the explicit court order, ICE deported him to Laos approximately 24 hours later, before the court could rule on the merits of his citizenship claim.

DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin stated that the judge’s order “was not served” to ICE until after the deportation had already occurred. She emphasized: “To the media’s chagrin, there was no mistake.” However, the ACLU of Louisiana, which represents Souvannarath, characterized the deportation as a “stunning violation of a federal court order” and filed a motion requesting his immediate return to the United States, calling the deportation “unlawful” and stating that ICE acted “in direct opposition to a federal court order.”

The deportation sent Souvannarath to Laos, where he faces significant risks of torture and persecution. Laos is a one-party authoritarian state in which the ruling Lao People’s Revolutionary Party dominates all aspects of politics and systematically restricts fundamental civil and political rights, including freedom of speech, association, and peaceful assembly. According to the U.S. State Department’s 2023 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices, Laos has significant human rights issues including credible reports of arbitrary or unlawful killings, cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment by government officials, arbitrary arrest or detention, serious problems with the independence of the judiciary, and political prisoners.

Genocide Watch classified Laos in March 2025 as Stage 8: Persecution, noting ongoing forced displacements, arbitrary arrests, enforced disappearances, and military attacks targeting minorities, particularly ethnic and religious groups. The Hmong minority in Laos remains under constant threat of persecution, facing enforced disappearances and military violence, with reports indicating that enforced isolation has led to widespread starvation, targeted violence, and severe rights violations. Christians faced persecution for practicing their religion, with an ethnic Khmu Christian pastor shot dead by unidentified men in July 2024.

Human Rights Watch reported in 2025 that Laos has demonstrated a pattern of violating the international law principle of nonrefoulement, which prohibits returning anyone to a place where they would face a real risk of persecution, torture, or threat to life. In September 2023, Laos summarily deported prominent Chinese lawyer and human rights defender Lu Siwei to China in violation of nonrefoulement protections. Police also arrested 17 Myanmar nationals before transferring them to Myanmar where they were at risk of torture and other human rights violations.

Legal experts expressed serious concerns about the constitutional implications of ICE defying a federal court order. Georgetown University constitutional law professor Steve Vladeck has stated that claims of blanket federal immunity for immigration agents are “wrong on its face” and that federal immigration agents cannot break the law with impunity. The Souvannarath deportation case is part of a broader pattern documented throughout 2025 of the Trump administration defying court orders related to immigration enforcement.

This incident occurred just one month before the November 26, 2025 revelation that DHS Secretary Kristi Noem had personally made the decision to defy U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s order blocking deportation flights to El Salvador’s notorious CECOT mega-prison. In that case, Judge Boasberg found probable cause for criminal contempt, stating that the government’s actions “demonstrate a willful disregard” for his order and emphasizing that “The Constitution does not tolerate willful disobedience of judicial orders—especially by officials of a coordinate branch.”

In the Souvannarath case, the deportation of a man with a substantial citizenship claim to a country documented as engaging in torture, arbitrary detention, and persecution of minorities raises profound questions about the administration’s respect for judicial authority and commitment to protecting individuals from torture and human rights violations. As of the deportation, Souvannarath remained detained in Laos, separated from his wife and five children in the United States, unable to present his citizenship claim to the federal court that had ordered him kept in the country precisely for that purpose.

The ACLU of Louisiana continues to pursue legal options to secure Souvannarath’s return to the United States, arguing that the deportation violated both the federal court’s explicit order and fundamental principles of due process. The case highlights the tension between the executive branch’s immigration enforcement priorities and the judicial branch’s authority to protect individual rights and ensure due process under the Constitution.