Jan. 6 Police Officers Sue Trump Over His $1.8 Billion Slush Fund

On Monday, DHS cited an order from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention banning anyone from traveling to the United States from areas affected by the outbreak. Zapata’s lawyers say she was deported to Congo well before the outbreak was announced and remains in the capital, Kinshasa, which has had no cases. On Tuesday, her lawyers pointed out in a court filing that Zapata was already suffering from health problems before she was deported to a country that said it could not care for her, and that she is now particularly vulnerable amid an Ebola outbreak.

At the time of Zapata’s deportation, Congolese authorities said they could not care for her. medical problemswhich include “diabetes accompanied by black spots on the foot and back, peeling skin, blackened nails, and other manifestations consistent with severe vascular and metabolic disease.” In the United States, she would receive medical treatment with the help of relatives in New Jersey. A federal judge ruled in 2024 that Zapata could not be returned to her country of birth, Colombia, because she risked torture by her former intimate partner.

Last Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon, appointed by President George W. Bush, governed that the American government should bring Zapata back to the United States. Zapata had sued the federal government and described how her ex-partner, who has ties to the Colombian National Police, physically and sexually assaulted her, including stabbing her in the genitals, repeatedly raping her, knocking out her teeth and leaving cross-shaped scars on her chest.