Deportation effort against Maryland mother fighting to prove U.S. citizenship dropped, attorney says
A Maryland mother who has been fighting for months to prove her United States citizenship is no longer subject to deportation, her attorney confirmed on Tuesday.
Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, a Prince George's County resident, was initially detained by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Baltimore on December 14, 2025.
Since then, her legal team has provided documents, including her Maryland birth certificate and immunization records, to prove that she is a U.S. citizen.
On Tuesday, attorney Gunther Sanabria said his client, "Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales, is a United States citizen and is not subject to deportation proceedings."
"Based on the information currently available to us, there is no ongoing effort by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to deport her," Sanabria added.
DHS filed a motion on Monday to dismiss Diaz Morales' case after "good cause" was established," according to our media partner, The Baltimore Banner.
Maryland woman detained in multiple facilities
Diaz Morales was detained as she left a Taco Bell in Baltimore last December, despite arguments that she was born in Maryland and is a U.S. citizen.
She had been detained in Baltimore before being transferred to detention facilities in Louisiana, Texas, and New Jersey.
Diaz Morales, the mother of a young son, was released from detention in January, but had to wear an ankle monitor.
DHS said Diaz Morales claimed to be a Mexican citizen
The Department of Homeland Security told CBS News Baltimore that Diaz Morales was found by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) in Lukeville, Arizona, on October 20, 2023, and claimed she was a citizen of Mexico.
"The Biden administration released her into the country with a notice to appear before an immigration judge," DHS said.
DHS said that after Diaz Morales failed to show up for her hearing, she was issued a final order of removal by an immigration judge on January 31, 2025.
Diaz Morales's lawyers said she was placed in deportation proceedings even though she provided immigration officials with her Maryland birth certificate.
The lawyers added that DHS asked for additional proof of U.S. citizenship, including a U.S. passport, which she did not have.
She was mistakenly processed as a noncitizen after entering the United States during an emergency without access to documentation, her lawyers said. She was assigned an A-number and placed into removal proceedings.
"That administrative error did not and cannot change her constitutional status," her attorneys stated. "She is a citizen."
Diaz Morales's lawyers said Johns Hopkins medical experts reviewed her birth certificate and other documents showing that she was born in Laurel, Maryland, on October 18, 2003.
Sanabria said Diaz Morales received her U.S. passport on June 1.
