FILE – This June 30, 2015, file photo shows a sign at the entrance to the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. A judge has ordered Monday, Dec. 24, 2018, the U.S. government not to deport a Honduran woman without her 15-year-old daughter, who have been detained together at the center for six months and fear being attacked if forced to return. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
HOUSTON – A judge has ordered the U.S. government not to deport a Honduran woman without her 15-year-old daughter.
The two have been detained together for six months and fear being attacked if forced to return to Central America.
U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss issued the order Monday.
The mother and daughter are detained together in Dilley, Texas. While the teenager has a case for asylum pending, an immigration judge on Friday denied the mother’s request to reopen her immigration case.
The woman and teen say they came to the U.S. two years ago after gang members in Honduras held them at gunpoint and demanded they pay protection money.
Shalyn Fluharty, a lawyer for the two, says the teen has tried to take her own life at least once in detention.
A U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokeswoman declined comment.
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