Nicaraguan activist faces decisive asylum hearing in San Antonio

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Nicaraguan activist Yadira Córdoba, a prominent member of the Mothers of April association, will face a final asylum hearing in San Antonio next month that could determine whether she is allowed to remain in the U.S. or be sent back to Nicaragua.

Córdoba, whose 15-year-old son was killed by regime snipers during the 2018 “Mother of all Marches” in Managua, was detained on August 20 during a routine immigration check-in with U.S. authorities in San Antonio. She had been living in exile first in Costa Rica and later in Austin.

Her lawyer, immigration attorney Arno Lemus, said Córdoba initially entered the United States in 2022 with a temporary parole document. When it expired, she was left only with her asylum claim, forcing her to pursue her case from detention.

“The fact that they detained her and they're threatening to deport her to Nicaragua after she's taken the time to file claims at an international level against the Nicaraguan regime … knowing that those kinds of actions can lead to torture, persecution, jail time — it’s unprecedented,” Lemus told TPR.

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Yadira Córdoba is a Nicaraguan human rights activist whose son was killed during anti-government protests in 2018. She is a member of the Mothers of April—a group of Nicaraguan mothers whose children died due to state repression during the 2018 anti-government protests. She has been a vocal critic of the Ortega-Murillo regime.

Lemus added that this case illustrates how the Trump administration’s expedited removal policy has placed many asylum seekers in mandatory detention unless granted humanitarian parole.

He said Córdoba’s case is “very well documented and highly publicized,” stressing that it has been presented at the Organization of American States, the United Nations, and the European Union. Lemus said it should be rare for judges to dismiss claims with such strong evidence.

An ICE official confirmed to TPR that Cordoba was detained in San Antonio on August 20. According to the statement, she first entered the U.S. illegally on Jan. 5, 2022, near Eagle Pass, Texas, and was released on an order of recognizance pending immigration proceedings. ICE said she will remain in custody until her case is reviewed by a judge.

Córdoba appeared briefly in San Antonio immigration court on Monday, and her final expedited removal hearing is scheduled for October 20.

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