CHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA — Immigration Judge Amy Lee ordered the removal of Levi Mendez-Maldonado in absentia on May 21, 2026, after a Charlotte immigration court hearing proceeded despite confirmation of his death. The order stated he failed to appear and showed no exceptional circumstances for his absence.
Attorney Becca O’Neill attended the hearing on Mendez-Maldonado’s behalf and informed Judge Lee of his death at the outset. O’Neill presented Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department records as proof, but Lee determined the documents were insufficient. The court continued the proceeding, and the final order did not reference his death. O’Neill did not contest the deportation order.
Mendez-Maldonado was murdered in a shooting in North Carolina in November 2024 at the age of 19. He had entered the United States from Honduras as an unaccompanied minor at 17, traveled through Texas, and relocated to North Carolina, where his older brother served as his legal guardian. He applied for asylum in May 2024 after turning 18, and his case remained pending at the time of his death.
Federal regulation 239.2 allows for the cancellation of a notice to appear in immigration court due to death. 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." She added, "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, executive director of the Carolina Migrant Network, said: "It shows that even after death, you can’t escape deportation." She also said: "I just believe this is a numbers game. There’s an emphasis on results rather than fully understanding the scope of the situation."
A request for a recording of the May 21 hearing was not fulfilled, and Lee’s office could not be reached for comment. From 2020 to 2025, Lee denied nearly 90% of her 550 asylum cases in Charlotte. The court granted legal relief in approximately 1% of cases in 2025 and maintains a backlog of about 129,000 pending matters. Both O’Neill and Arteaga said they had never previously encountered a deportation order for a deceased immigrant. Posthumous proceedings have occurred elsewhere, including in California, where immigration matters continued for 88-year-old Jose Mario Rodriguez Grimaldi three years after his death, with federal notices sent to his daughter’s residence.