An immigration judge in Charlotte, North Carolina, has ordered the deportation of a young man who was murdered in 2024, ruling that he failed to appear in court even after being informed of his death. The case has drawn sharp criticism from advocates who say it exemplifies the dehumanization of immigrants in the U.S. legal system.
Judge Issues Deportation Order for Deceased Teen
Judge Amy Lee ordered the removal of Levi Mendez-Maldonado in absentia on May 21. Mendez-Maldonado, 19, originally from Honduras, entered the United States as an unaccompanied minor at age 17. He was killed in a shooting in November 2024.
Becca O’Neill, a lawyer with the Carolina Migrant Network, was preparing to represent Mendez-Maldonado in his asylum case and deportation defense before his death. In December 2024, she received notice of a preliminary hearing scheduled for May 21, 2026. Like all immigrants detained and processed at the border, he was immediately placed in deportation proceedings upon arrival.
Hearing Proceeds Despite Death Notification
O’Neill attended the May 21 meeting on his behalf. At the start of the hearing, she informed Lee of her client’s death and presented Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department (CMPD) records as evidence. According to O’Neill, Lee deemed the CMPD records insufficient proof of death, even though a death certificate had been filed in late 2024. The Guardian has requested but not received a copy of the court recording; Lee’s office could not be reached for comment.
The judge and federal prosecutor continued with the hearing as planned, without acknowledging the reason for Mendez-Maldonado’s absence, O’Neill said. “The whole thing probably took maybe five minutes. The attorney acted like we were talking about the weather. The judge didn’t take a moment to reorient herself after hearing he was dead.”
The court order states: “Despite the written notification provided, Respondent failed to appear at the hearing, and no exceptional circumstances were shown for the failure to appear. Therefore, the immigration court conducted the hearing in absentia.” There is no mention of his death in the judge’s order, obtained by the Guardian.
Advocates Decry ‘Banality of Evil’
Flabbergasted, O’Neill did not contest the final order. “This is the banality of evil. All of this is so normalized and bizarre. Just a boilerplate order: he didn’t come to court, he didn’t demonstrate good cause. Well, he’s dead. And you know that because you saw a government website saying that he’s dead.”
Stefanía Arteaga, founder and executive director of the Carolina Migrant Network, said: “It shows that even after death, you can’t escape deportation.”
Advocates say the judge’s decision and the omission of Mendez-Maldonado’s death in official court records further strip dignity from immigrant communities terrorized during federal authorities’ recent Operation Charlotte’s Web.
“The system is designed to dehumanize noncitizens, especially if the noncitizens are Black or not white. You can see what happened in Charlotte last year, the violence and active targeting of these communities,” said O’Neill. “The thing is: the entire system is like that. It doesn’t have to just be [Customs and Border Protection] in tactical gear outside of somebody’s home. It’s happening in the courts. These judges and attorneys don’t care.”
Charlotte Immigration Court’s Poor Record
The Charlotte immigration court handles cases from North and South Carolina. In 2025, it granted legal relief in roughly 1% of cases. The court currently has a backlog of about 129,000 pending cases, the ninth-largest in the country.
“I just believe this is a numbers game,” Arteaga said. “There’s an emphasis on results rather than fully understanding the scope of the situation.”
From 2020 to 2025, Lee denied nearly 90% of her 550 asylum cases in Charlotte. Her statistics place her in the middle of her peers in the same court, according to Trac Immigration.
Pattern of Denials and Controversial Decisions
O’Neill describes Lee as tough. Earlier this year, Lee ordered one of her clients removed to Ecuador, Guatemala or Honduras. “My client is Mexican,” she said. The government currently permits third-country asylum agreements, deporting people to foreign countries with which they have few or no ties. O’Neill filed a motion to reconsider, arguing that her client had never been to any of those countries. She claimed Lee told her to “stop talking” and would not budge on her decision. “She does not indulge” any differing feedback.
Paul Hunker, a Dallas-based former Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) counsel turned immigration lawyer, said that the judge could have delayed her decision. Federal regulation 239.2 permits the cancellation of a notice to appear in immigration court for several reasons, including death.
Hunker, who was chief counsel for ICE in Texas from 2003 to 2024, noted that the Biden administration saw record numbers of immigrants processed at the border. But he believes that the second Trump administration gives agencies “marching orders” to deny as many immigrants relief as possible.
“The administration is putting pressure on ICE attorneys to achieve outcomes [and] never agree to a bond,” he said. “If a person is not a danger to the community, they should be released on a bond. Under the first Trump administration, we would reopen and desist a case. And then an immigrant can go on their merry way, and that’s great. But now ICE won’t do that.”
Rare but Not Unprecedented
Both O’Neill and Arteaga say they never encountered a deportation order for a deceased immigrant in more than 20 years working in North Carolina. One such case occurred in 2024 in California, when 88-year-old Jose Mario Rodriguez Grimaldi faced deportation proceedings three years after he died. The Los Angeles Times reported that the Department of Homeland Security sent multiple notices to the residence he shared with his daughter. The publication also confirmed several similar cases with at least three more immigration lawyers.
Victim’s Asylum Case Pending at Time of Death
Mendez-Maldonado had gone through the appropriate channels to apply for legal status. Since he entered the country alone as a 17-year-old, he needed a U.S. sponsor to be released and given a chance to apply for asylum. His older brother sponsored him and acted as his legal guardian for a year. Mendez-Maldonado entered through Texas, where his first attorney helped him apply for asylum in May 2024, after he turned 18.
Then he moved to North Carolina, where O’Neill took over his case. At the time of his death, his asylum case was still pending. O’Neill said his goals were to remain in the U.S. and obtain a green card.
The lengthy process in navigating the immigration system is even more challenging in cases with children. “Levi’s rare in that he had legal representation and free representation,” said O’Neill. Most young people do not. “I’ve had clients who enter as unaccompanied minors as young as four years old who end up with removal orders because they don’t go to court. How is a four-year-old going to know when their hearing date is? It’s up to their sponsors, who are often undocumented themselves.”
O’Neill had lost contact with Mendez-Maldonado and called him for months in 2025 to share good news: his work permit had been approved. Finally, a colleague told her that he had died in a shooting.
The May hearing would have been Mendez-Maldonado’s first appearance at the Charlotte immigration court, a chance to convince the U.S. government that he deserved to stay. CMPD’s homicide unit confirmed to the Guardian that the investigation into his death is still open, but did not provide further details.
