ICE deported Oceanside father of a U.S. Marine without notice or a hearing, despite his deferred-action protection

On October 9, 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Esteban Rios Sosa when he reported to a federal building in San Diego, California, for a scheduled ICE check-in, then deported him to Mexico within 24 hours — without notice that his protected status had been revoked and without a hearing. Rios Sosa, a longtime Oceanside resident who had lived in the United States since 1988, held deferred-action status tied to his wife's pending U visa application, a status his attorney said generally shields recipients from detention and removal. He and his wife, Luisa Ofelia Rodriguez Tejeda, had first been stopped and detained on September 28, 2025, while driving with their son — a former Marine — to visit their pregnant daughter, who lives at Camp Pendleton with her husband, an active-duty Marine; the couple had visited the base roughly ten times before without incident. Agents released them that day with ankle monitors and instructed them to return for an ICE check-in appointment two weeks later, repeatedly assuring them they would not be detained at that appointment.

When the couple reported for the October 9 check-in as instructed, agents detained them instead. Rios Sosa was taken to the basement of the federal building, told to wear a mask, and deported within 24 hours; his wife was also detained but released roughly three weeks later by an immigration judge because of her own deferred-action status. Rios Sosa's attorney said he never received notice that his deferred-action status had been revoked and was given no opportunity to contest the action before removal. The Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly characterized Rios Sosa as a violent criminal, alleging he was charged with domestic violence and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon; when asked for comment on the case, ICE referred to him by an incorrect name.

The case is part of a broader pattern: an Associated Press investigation reported in August 2026 that ICE has detained more than 50 spouses and parents of active-duty service members, and deported at least six, since an April 2025 Department of Homeland Security policy ended decades of enforcement leniency toward military families. ICE had also been stationed at Camp Pendleton's gates that same year to assist with base security.

Updates

2026-09-08 — Federal judge ordered Rios Sosa's immediate return, finding a due-process violation [1, 2]

U.S. District Judge Janis Sammartino of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California granted Rios Sosa's habeas corpus petition, ruling that his October 2025 deportation violated his due-process rights because he was removed without notice or a hearing. Sammartino wrote that the court could not identify circumstances more extreme than "an unlawful deportation without justification, notice, or any opportunity to be heard" and that Rios Sosa "should not have been detained at all, much less removed." She rejected the government's argument that the court lacked jurisdiction because Rios Sosa was no longer in the United States, ordered the government to immediately facilitate his return and restore his status as if the removal had never occurred, and directed the parties to file joint status reports every 10 days until he is back in the country.