Immigration judge halts removal of El Pasoan Xochitl Santiago as federal courts block deportation, transfer of her and another DACA recipient
by Cindy Ramirez September 9, 2025
7:20 p.m. Sept. 9: This story has been updated to include attorneys for Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago saying that an immigration judge on Monday terminated her removal proceedings.
4:30 p.m. Sept. 9: This story has been updated to reflect that a federal judge has issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting ICE from deporting or moving Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago out of the Western District of Texas.
An immigration judge has terminated the removal proceedings of an El Paso DACA recipient who remains in ICE custody, while federal courts have ruled she and another Dreamer cannot be deported or moved until federal judges can review their cases.
Removal proceedings for Catalina “Xochitl” Santiago, 28, an El Paso County DACA recipient who was arrested Aug. 3 by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents at El Paso International Airport, were terminated Monday by Immigration Judge Michael Pleters, one of her attorneys confirmed.
Christopher Benoit, the attorney representing Santiago in the federal case, said that as of 6 p.m. Tuesday, she remained detained in El Paso.
“It’s a violation of her constitutional due process rights to keep her in detention. It was a violation to initiate removal proceedings. There is no rational basis for her detention,” he said.
READ MORE: 2 El Paso County DACA recipients challenge ICE detention as families plead for justice
Santiago, who has lived in the United States since she was 8 years old, obtained DACA protection in 2012. Her DACA grant is valid through April 2026. The arrest of the community organizer sparked protests demanding her release.
On Tuesday, before Pleters’ ruling on Santiago’s immigration case, U.S. District Judge Kathleen Cardone granted a temporary restraining order for Santiago in a separate federal legal action she brought challenging her detention. Cardone’s ruling states that the government may not remove or deport Santiago from the United States, or transfer Santiago to any facility outside the boundaries of the Western District of Texas. The order is good through Sept. 23, when she’s scheduled to have a hearing in El Paso.
In another case of an El Paso County DACA recipient, a New Mexico judge granted a temporary restraining order Friday protecting Paulo Cesar Gamez Lira, 28, a forklift operator who is married and has four children. He was detained by a group of seven unidentified men in front of his home Aug. 13 and has since been held at the Otero County Processing Center in Chaparral, New Mexico. The ruling does not order his release.
“The potential harm to (Gamez Lira) if the TRO is not granted is serious,” Senior U.S. District Judge William P. Johnson of Albuquerque wrote in his order. “If Petitioner is removed from the state of New Mexico without due process, he will be without means to challenge his detention in this Court, and indeed, if he is removed from the United States, he will face significant challenges disputing any determinations about his immigration status.”
Gamez Lira, who was brought to the United States as an infant by his parents, received a Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals grant in 2014. He has been granted renewals since, most recently from August 2024 to August 2026.
Implemented in 2012, DACA provides temporary protection from deportation for individuals who were brought to the United States as children. Under the Trump administration, DACA recipients can apply to renew their status and work authorization, but new applications are no longer being processed.
The ACLU of New Mexico filed a habeas corpus petition on behalf of Gamez Lira in New Mexico District Court on Sept. 3. That same day, an immigration judge issued an order finding the government’s notice to appear to be “defective” as it referred to Gamez Lira as an “arriving alien” and ordered the Department of Homeland Security to amend it. DHS subsequently amended its notice to state that he’s present in the United States although he has not been admitted or paroled.
Unlike immigrants who entered illegally but had been living in the United States for more than two years, “arriving aliens” are not eligible for immigration bond hearings. The change in language in the notice to appear was sought to allow Gamez Lira an opportunity to be released on bond while he challenges his deportation.
However, on Friday, the Justice Department’s Board of Immigration Appeals issued a ruling upholding the Trump administration’s policy that denies bond hearings in immigration court for many immigrants who entered the United States “without inspection” regardless of how long they had been in the country. The ruling essentially expands mandatory detention of immigrants for months or even years.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Colorado filed a class action lawsuit in Denver days before the appeals board upheld the policy, which stemmed from a July memo by ICE Acting Director Todd Lyons. Similar lawsuits, including from the ACLU of California and a group of about 20 attorneys general, are also fighting the policy, arguing not just that it’s a violation of due process, but highlighting the economic implications of mass detention by harming the workforce and spending millions of taxpayer dollars on detention camps.
Jorge Dominguez, an attorney with Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center, which is representing Gamez Lira in his immigration proceedings, said it remains unclear how the no bond policy might impact him.
“Right now we’re focused on winning the argument that his due process rights were violated,” he said, adding that the first step was ensuring that Gamez Lira would not be transferred out of New Mexico or immediately deported.
Absent a restraining order, Johnson wrote, Gamez Lira could be removed from the United States “as soon as today.” The order is necessary to preserve the court’s jurisdiction until the parties can be heard, he wrote.
The restraining order is in effect until Sept. 29, when a court hearing on the case is set to take place in Las Cruces. The government has to show cause by Sept. 19.
Further, “there is a substantial public interest in having governmental agencies abide by the federal laws that govern their existence and operations,”Johnson wrote, adding that the court does not determine whether the government violated federal law at this stage. “But it follows that the public has an interest in the adjudication of claims alleging such violations.”
In his order, Johnson said he was not ordering Gamez Lira released because the respondents – including Lyons, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem and El Paso ICE Field Office Director Mary de Anda Ybarra – had not had the opportunity to be heard. Otero County falls within the El Paso ICE Field Office’s jurisdiction.
According to court documents, three unmarked vehicles blocked Gamez Lira’s car the morning of Aug. 13 as he was preparing to take his 3-month-old baby to the doctor. Seven men in plain clothes, some of them masked and armed, pulled him from the driver’s seat and arrested him. The men didn’t identify themselves nor did they have a warrant.
Cindy Ramirez
Cindy Ramirez is editor of El Paso Matters. El Paso native Cindy Ramirez has spent most of her career in journalism, with some stints in public and media relations and military reporting.
