Judge rules the Trump administration violated a 2019 settlement in deporting a man to El Salvador

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge nominated by President Donald Trump ordered his administration to facilitate the return of a man who was deported to El Salvador last month despite having a pending asylum application.

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland ruled Wednesday that the government violated a 2019 settlement agreement when it deported the 20-year-old man, a Venezuelan native identified only as Cristian in court papers.

Gallagher cited another federal judge’s order for the government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had been living in Maryland and was accidentally deported to his native El Salvador on March 15, the same day as Cristian.

Gallagher, who was nominated by Trump in 2019, said she recognizes that her ruling in Cristian’s favour “puts this case squarely into the procedural morass that has been playing out very publicly, across many levels of the federal judiciary,” in Abrego Garcia’s case.

Gallagaher said she was guided by U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ ruling that Trump’s Republican administration must facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return.

“Standing by and taking no action is not facilitation,” Gallagher wrote. “In prior cases involving wrongfully removed individuals, courts have ordered, and the government has taken, affirmative steps toward facilitating return.”

Gallagher said her order requires the government to make “a good faith request” for the government of El Salvador to release Cristian to U.S. custody.

A group of immigrants who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied children and had been living in the U.S. illegally sued in July 2019. Their class action lawsuit claims the government unlawfully modified policies governing asylum applications by unaccompanied children.

Gallagher signed off on a settlement last year in the lawsuit. The judge said Cristian and anyone else covered by the settlement must be returned to the U.S. to await a decision on the merits of their asylum applications by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.

Justice Department attorneys argued that Gallagher doesn’t have the jurisdiction to review Cristian’s removal or compel his return to the U.S. They also deny that his deportation violates the 2019 settlement.

“As a threshold matter, the Court should reject Plaintiffs’ blatant attempt to recast the parties’ filed and ordered settlement agreement to include claims and disputes never before raised in the litigation,” government lawyers wrote before Gallagher ruled.

Cristian and dozens of other people were flown from the U.S. to El Salvador the day that Trump issued a proclamation calling for the arrest and removal of Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law. Cristian had been transferred into federal custody from a jail in Harris County, Texas, in January.

Plaintiffs’ attorneys said the Trump administration is trying to circumvent the settlement agreement “because they no longer wish to be bound to its terms.”

“Simply put, the AEA does not allow Defendants to disregard the binding commitments it made,” they wrote.

Government lawyers said Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act because they determined that members of the Tren de Aragua gang are part of an “invasion” and pose a threat to the U.S.

“Given the strong public interest in ensuring the national security of the country from foreign invasion and terrorist organizations, any contract that purports to limit the President’s ability to invoke and apply the AEA in support of such public interest must be treated as void,” they wrote.

Gallagher said the government has presented no evidence that Cristian poses a threat to public safety.