Composite story
Louisville judge orders ICE-detained mother reunited with infant after wanton-endangerment plea; foster family fights handover
Louisville, KentuckyPublished 7 Sep 2026
Nyttend / Wikimedia Commons, Public domain · source
Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson ordered a one-year-old returned to a mother in ICE custody who pleaded guilty to second-degree wanton endangerment after alleged violence at birth. The foster family is fighting the handover.
Jefferson Family Court Judge Angela Johnson ordered a one-year-old U.S. citizen returned to her mother, who is in ICE detention in Louisiana after pleading guilty to second-degree wanton endangerment tied to alleged violence when the infant was a newborn. The child has been with the same Louisville foster family for about a year. A handover around Sept. 7 was expected, with deportation to Guatemala to follow; the foster family later obtained an emergency pause from the Kentucky Court of Appeals.
Disputed facts
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Louisville judge rules ICE detainee get child back after alleged violence
Published 4 Sep 2026 accessed 6 Sep 2026
Facts
Family Court Judge Angela Johnson issued the ruling on Aug. 25.
Louisville police arrested Reynosa on Aug. 5, 2025, for allegedly attempting to kill her newborn.
The KY Child Fatality Project reported the Aug. 25 ruling.
A copy of Johnson's order was not immediately available.
Reynosa had been in the Louisville Metro Department of Corrections since Aug. 5, 2025.
Judge Melissa Bellows imposed the sentence.
Mortenson said the child is in foster care.
Mortenson said the child would be transferred to Reynosa's attorney Sept. 7 and then to ICE.
Reynosa was 19 when she brought the newborn to the hospital.
Mortenson said Johnson denied the foster parents' motion to intervene.
On the afternoon of Sept. 4, Johnson was scheduled to consider motions to pause the transfer.
After a brief hearing, one of the foster parents declined to answer questions outside Johnson's courtroom.
Opinion
The ruling prompted outrage from an advocacy group and at least one state lawmaker.
Bojanowski said there are too many unknowns to guarantee the child's well-being and safety.
Mortenson has expressed outrage at Johnson's decision.
Bojanowski asked whether the handover is in the best interest of the child.
Bojanowski asked whether the mother's attorney would hand the baby over to an ICE officer.
Bojanowski asked whether they would fly the child to Louisiana, where the mother is.
Bojanowski asked whether the baby would stay in a detention center.
Troubleshooters: Louisville foster family fights turning baby over to ICE, returned to biological mom
Published 6 Sep 2026 accessed 6 Sep 2026
Facts
C.Y. and his partner have had Baby T since she was 13 days old.
One of the baby's foster parents spoke anonymously under the initials C.Y.
Reynosa had recently arrived in Kentucky from Guatemala.
C.Y. said about 9,000 kids are in Kentucky foster care at any given moment.
C.Y. said the baby's case manager was at the courthouse on Aug. 18 when Judge Johnson called the case unexpectedly.
The family was preparing for an Aug. 18 family court review before Judge Angela Johnson.
The foster family was notified the day before the hearing that it would be pushed to September.
The foster family has been working toward adoption.
The family filed an emergency motion in the Kentucky Court of Appeals that paused the reunification order.
The custody arrangement remains unchanged.
Another hearing is set for Tuesday, Sept. 8.
The appeals court is requiring responses from the guardian ad litem and parties of interest.
Opinion
The foster parents feel the baby's safety at risk is worth making the story public.
C.Y. said fostering seemed a logical solution because they want children.
C.Y. said there are a lot of children that need a home.
C.Y. said it does not make sense to return a child to a parent who has not worked a case plan, mental-health evaluations, or verifiable safe living conditions.
C.Y. believes the judge was never given the paperwork on the birth abuse and the baby's safety and health.
C.Y. said the case is not being handled the way other foster care cases typically are, without a plan for safe return.
C.Y. said it feels like this child is supposed to pay the price for the system in place.
Louisville judge orders baby returned to mother convicted of harming her; deportation looms
Published 3 Sep 2026 accessed 6 Sep 2026
Facts
Pediatric Protection Specialists found the infant's injuries indicative of child physical abuse.
Court records say the child was born at home on Aug. 2, 2025.
Court records said Marleny Reynoso was the only person who had been in possession of the child.
ICE's detainee locator listed Reynoso at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Center.
A no-contact order tied to the criminal case barred contact with the child.
Reynoso was initially charged with second-degree wanton endangerment.
A source said the cabinet typically does not reunify children without a defined process.
The source said the cabinet has no authority once a judge rules.
Bojanowski said she has not identified any process resembling a typical reunification.
People familiar with the proceedings said Johnson ordered the return because the mother had not been given an adequate opportunity to work toward reunification.
A source said the child would be taken to an ICE detention center Monday morning.
Bojanowski said state government has no jurisdiction over ICE.
Bojanowski said she has contacted the office of U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey.
Bojanowski said she cannot just do an open records request for the order.
A spokesperson for U.S. Rep. Morgan McGarvey responded.
The cabinet said Team Kentucky is committed to the health and safety of everyone in the commonwealth, especially vulnerable children.
Guardian ad litem assignments are confidential, and the reporter could not reach the guardian ad litem.
Opinion
Bojanowski said she was trying to figure out how Kentucky could turn over a one-year-old to ICE, to be placed with the parent in a detention center, then sent to Guatemala.
Bojanowski said there were too many dynamics without answers.
The source said this reunification is missing everything.
Bojanowski said she has struggled to square the original allegations with what is happening now.
The source said the mother has absolutely no bond with this child.
Bojanowski said the judge would surely have seen the mother's arrest record.
Bojanowski called the lack of oversight a dereliction of duty.
Bojanowski asked whether the cabinet and judge would reunite the baby without ensuring the mother is a safe parent.
Bojanowski said she does not understand how the judge could give the parent the child back with ICE involved.
Bojanowski told the reporter she isn't sure the judge saw the arrest record.
Bojanowski said she does not think reunification happens without oversight afterwards.
Bojanowski said the child is going to an ICE detention center and then, when the mother is deported, will go with her without oversight of whether the parent is fit.
Bojanowski said she does not think that would ever happen without ICE involved.
Bojanowski compared the case to a hypothetical without immigration enforcement.
Bojanowski said there needs to be time between reunification and the child being sent out of the country.
Bojanowski said that without the order she is left assuming the judge weighed factors she cannot see.
Bojanowski said she is hopeful someone will petition the court for a stay before handover.
Bojanowski said it seems that only the judge could make a change.
Bojanowski is hopeful Kentucky's federal lawmakers will step in.