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A U.S. immigration judge in San Antonio has ordered the deportation to Honduras of Yadira Córdoba, a Nicaraguan activist whose son was killed during the 2018 protests against the Ortega-Murillo regime. The ruling denies her request for asylum in the United States and directs that she be removed to Honduras, where the court said she could apply for protection.
Córdoba, who has been a proactive justice advocate, was detained by ICE in August during a routine check-in in San Antonio. Her legal team, led by Arno Lemus, told TPR it was due to a technicality in her initial asylum claim back in January 2022.
Lemus and his team first argued that her life would be in danger if deported back to Nicaragua. But when migration government attorneys decided to invoke the Safe Third Country agreement, potentially implying a deportation to another country in the region, there was renewed concern. Nicaraguan dissidents have been attacked in other parts of Central America, including Honduras and Costa Rica.
The asylum claim stems from events that began in April 2018, when demonstrations over proposed pension reforms in Nicaragua grew into a nationwide protest movement. According to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, at least 355 people were killed and thousands injured over the following year.
On May 30, 2018, during the March of the Mothers in Managua, government forces opened fire on protesters, killing at least 19 people, according to human-rights monitors. Córdoba’s 15-year-old son, Orlando Aguirre Córdoba, was among those killed. The families of the victims later formed the Mothers of April, a collective seeking accountability for the deaths.
After receiving threats, Córdoba left Nicaragua, lived temporarily in Costa Rica, and entered the United States where she settled in Austin. She worked in elder care while pursuing asylum.
Her attorneys argue that Honduras does not meet the conditions of a “safe third country” because of documented violence against Nicaraguan exiles there. The judge’s decision, issued on November 7, allows Córdoba’s defense team until December 8 to file an appeal before the Board of Immigration Appeals in Falls Church, Virginia.
People close to the case have told TPR that Córdoba’s case is a mirror for their own asylum cases. Córdoba remains in ICE custody in San Antonio while her legal options are reviewed.
If the appeal is rejected, the case could move to the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Human-rights organizations have said they are monitoring the outcome but have not announced any international filings.
