A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to return a Venezuelan man who was sent to a megaprison in El Salvador despite being part of a class action settlement that should have protected him from removal.
Judge orders return to U.S. of second migrant deported to El Salvador
A federal judge in Maryland has ordered the Trump administration to return a Venezuelan man who was sent to a megaprison in El Salvador despite having protection from removal.
April 24, 2025 The Washington Post
The case marks the second time a judge has ordered the Trump administration to return a migrant it sent to El Salvador on March 15.
The first was Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant who received from an immigration judge in 2019 a “withholding of removal” order preventing his deportation and yet was sent to El Salvador. The Trump administration later acknowledged he was deported in error but has not yet returned him. Sen. Chris Van Hollan (D-Maryland) flew to El Salvador and met with Abrego García, who had been transferred out of the Terrorism Confinement Center to another detention facility eight days prior.
Unlike Abrego García, the 20-year old Venezuelan migrant identified only as Cristian in court filings was sent to El Salvador under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, which was invoked by President Donald Trump on March 14. The first deportations of migrants under the act occurred the next day and included Cristian.
Nearly 300 migrants have been sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT by its Spanish acronym. The unprecedented agreement to hold U.S.-detained migrants in a foreign prison with a history of alleged human rights violations has sparked a national outcry and contentious court battles.
Cristian came to the United States as an unaccompanied minor and was one of four plaintiffs who filed a lawsuit against the government. The lawsuit argued that he and other migrants who arrived as children should be able to stay in the United States while their asylum claims are adjudicated.
A settlement was reached in November. The agreement says Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) “will refrain from executing the Class Member’s final removal order until [U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services] issues a Final Determination on one properly filed asylum application.”
The Trump administration argued that Cristian’s status as an “alien enemy” supersedes his ability to carry out his asylum claim. But Gallagher said the case was not simply about any migrants asking for asylum but this particular group of migrants, who a court has already ordered are protected until a decision is reached on whether they qualify for asylum. Gallagher pointed out that no exceptions were made for the Alien Enemies Act in the settlement.
The judge also referenced Abrego García’s case, in which the Supreme Court ruled that the administration must “facilitate” his return to the United States. Gallagher said she stood by Judge Paula Xinis and the assertions by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit that the government’s facilitation requires concrete steps to bring the erroneously removed migrant back to the United States.
Gallagher was initially nominated to the federal bench by President Barack Obama, but her nomination stalled in the Senate, and she was renominated by Trump during his first term.
“Standing by and taking no action is not facilitation. In prior cases involving wrongfully removed individuals, courts have ordered, and the government has taken, affirmative steps toward facilitating return,” Gallagher said in the opinion. She said the Trump administration needs to make a “good faith request” to the Salvadoran government to release Cristian.