Another Court Wants Another Deportee Returned

The Trump administration has been hit with another court order "to facilitate" the return of a Venezuelan man it sent to a prison in El Salvador. A Maryland-based judge ruled Wednesday that the deportation last month broke a court-approved settlement in a lawsuit last year in which the government committed to not deporting migrants who arrived in the US as unaccompanied minors until their asylum claims had been completely resolved, the Washington Post reports. The case has echoes that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported despite a 2019 court order that prohibited it.

District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee based in Maryland, cited Abrego Garcia's case in her ruling on a man who was living in Maryland and is identified in court papers only by a pseudonym, Cristian. She also ordered the administration to not remove anyone else covered by the settlement, which was reached with the Biden administration, per ABC News. The arguments made included:

• Trump administration: Immigration and Customs Enforcement determined Cristian was subject to removal after he was convicted of cocaine possession in Texas. President Trump's invocation of the Alien Enemies Act outweighed the 2024 settlement protecting Christian while his asylum case was ongoing, per Politico.
• Plaintiff: The settlement makes this case a contractual issue, not a case about the Alien Enemies Act.
• The judge: The settlement still applies. The Trump administration must "facilitate Cristian's return to the United States so that he can receive the process he was entitled to." Gallagher anticipated the administration interpreting "facilitate" narrowly, as it has in another court's ruling on Abrego Garcia. "Standing by and taking no action is not facilitation," she wrote.

(More deportation stories.)