The Nebraska Supreme Court says a south-central Nebraska judge was wrong to terminate the parental rights of a deported Guatemalan mother.

The case involved Maria Luis, a Guatemalan mother who came to Grand Island in 2004. Luis was deported a year later after lying to authorities who were looking into the welfare of two of her children. Her parental rights were later terminated by the judge.

The Supreme Court said in a ruling issued Friday that the state failed to prove that terminating Luis' rights was in the best interests of her children.

The state had argued the children should remain with their foster parents in the United States because living in Guatemala was disadvantageous.