Justice Elena Kagan Denies Emergency Appeal to Halt Deportation of Mexican Family Facing Cartel Threats
Liberal Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan has denied an emergency application to stop the deportation of a Mexican family of four who entered the United States illegally in 2021, claiming asylum based on threats from the Los Rojos drug cartel.
The family—Fabian Lagunas Espinoza, Maria Angelica Flores Ulloa, and their two sons—sought asylum after fleeing Guerrero, Mexico, where they say cartel members threatened to kill them unless they abandoned their home within 24 hours.
Despite these claims, their case has now been rejected at every level of the U.S. immigration and judicial system. An immigration judge denied their asylum request, an appellate immigration board upheld the decision, and the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the lower rulings.
The family filed an emergency request to the U.S. Supreme Court to temporarily delay deportation while preparing a formal appeal, but Justice Kagan denied the application without comment or referral to the full court.
They were ordered to report to immigration officials on April 17 to comply with removal proceedings.
Kagan’s denial, issued without elaboration, highlights the high bar for emergency immigration relief at the Supreme Court, even when applicants cite threats of cartel violence. Her decision also reinforces the precedent that judicial review is not guaranteed in every rejected asylum case—especially when multiple lower courts have upheld prior rulings.
While immigration activists argue that deporting individuals under threat constitutes a human rights risk, critics of the asylum system contend that claims of cartel violence are difficult to vet and have been increasingly used to exploit lenient U.S. immigration enforcement under the Biden administration.
As of now, there are no further legal avenues for the family unless the case is taken up in full by the Supreme Court or new evidence emerges.
