Despite a court order blocking his removal, ICE has sent a 44-year-old Louisiana Lockup detainee with a “substantial claim” to American citizenship to Laos, where he is in custody, the Louisiana American Civil Liberties Union said Tuesday.

Chanthila Souvannarath, who was born in a refugee camp in Thailand, received lawful permanent residence in the United States as a baby, Chief Judge Shelly Dick of the Middle District Court of Louisiana wrote in an Oct. 23 court decision.

Souvannarath had a “substantial claim” of citizenship, according to Dick. He said that because his father became a naturalized citizen, and because he entered his father’s sole custody at 13, he met the requirements for derivative citizenship and has been a U.S. citizen since childhood, Dick’s order says.

The order

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