2016 ELECTION/CAMPAIGN/DREAMERS/IMMIGRATION/LEGAL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “A highly unusual and racially charged episode from the 2016 campaign suddenly resurfaced this week when a federal judge whom President Donald Trump repeatedly criticized last year was assigned to hear the case of a man who claims he was unfairly deported.
Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born in the US but is of Mexican heritage, was attacked by Trump last year over his handling of a lawsuit against Trump University. Trump claimed Curiel could not impartially hear the case because of his background and Trump’s hardline immigration policies. The case was eventually settled.
The deportation case concerns Juan Manuel Montes Bojorquez, 23, whose lawyers allege he was deported from California to Mexico earlier this year despite having active protection under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA.
Curiel’s involvement in the case is sure to increase the publicity surrounding the most notable test yet of the Trump administration’s policies toward undocumented immigrants. Trump pledged to end DACA during the 2016 campaign, but the Department of Homeland Security has continued issuing permits.”
-Laura Jarett, “Judge denigrated by Trump as ‘Mexican’ will hear key deportation case,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 20, 2017 9:55am