A federal immigration judge in San Diego has dismissed a case that sought to deport three San Diego teenagers for being in the country illegally.
The high school students were detained one morning last May at the Old Town trolley station while on their way to school.
The three minors were deported to Tijuana, but after about a month, were allowed to cross back into the U.S. on humanitarian visas while their cases made their way through the U.S. court system.
Immigration attorney Lilia Velasquez, who is representing the three teenagers, says the judge threw out the case Tuesday morning because he said the government bungled the charging documents.
Velasquez says government attorneys have 30 days to appeal the judge's ruling.
The case's dismissal does not give the teenagers legal status. Velazquez says they run the risk of being deported again, because they still don't have documents that allow them to stay in the U.S.