Sept. 15 (UPI) — A Nicaraguan woman deported by U.S. immigration authorities while seeking to reopen her case was due in immigration court Tuesday as the Trump administration faced a federal order to facilitate her return to the United States.

Marcela Linda Arias, who lived in Houston for nearly 15 years, was deported to Nicaragua in late June. An immigration court granted her request to reopen her case one day after she was removed from the United States, according to Nicaragua’s La Prensa.

U.S. District Judge David Hittner issued a temporary restraining order Sept. 8 directing the Department of Homeland Security to facilitate Arias’ return and report on the steps it had taken before her Sept. 15 immigration hearing, according to 100% Noticias, which reviewed the public record of the case.

ICE said it is complying with the order. In a federal court filing reviewed by the Houston Chronicle, deportation officer Ryan Murray said the agency had submitted a parole request to facilitate Arias’ return to the United States. The request was pending at the time of the filing.

There was no public confirmation as of Tuesday that the parole request had been approved or that a date had been set for Arias’ return. La Prensa reported Tuesday that the process to secure her return remained pending ahead of the scheduled hearing.

Arias had asked an immigration court to reopen her case based on her claim that she is a survivor of domestic violence. Her attorney, Javier Rivera, told the Chronicle that the filing should have automatically paused her removal while the court considered the request.

The Justice Department disputes that interpretation and maintains that Arias was lawfully deported. Government attorney Nicholas Sabin argued that Arias’ latest motion did not automatically prevent her removal because a separate motion she filed years earlier had been denied, according to the Chronicle.

Rivera disputed the government’s interpretation, saying the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to the latest motion within the 10-day period allowed and later failed to appeal the immigration court’s decision to reopen the case.

Arias filed a lawsuit against the federal government July 25 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. The case, Arias v. Mullin et al., is listed as No. 4:26-cv-05954, according to 100% Noticias’ review of the public court record.

Hittner granted the temporary restraining order after finding preliminarily that Arias was likely to prevail on the merits of her claim and faced a substantial threat of irreparable harm if she remained outside the country while her case proceeded, according to the court record reviewed by 100% Noticias and the Chronicle.

The order does not constitute a final ruling on whether Arias’ deportation was unlawful, nor does it grant her asylum, permanent residency or another immigration status. It requires the federal government to facilitate her return while her reopened immigration proceedings continue.

Court-ordered returns after deportation are rare, but ICE does not publish statistics showing how many deported immigrants have been returned to the United States as a result of judicial orders, 100% Noticias reported.

One of the most prominent recent cases involved Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was deported to El Salvador despite a court order barring his removal to that country.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in April 2025 that the government must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to the United States. He was returned in June 2025 to face federal criminal charges.