Trump administration returns ‘wrongfully’ deported Guatemalan man to US after judge’s scathing order

A Guatemalan man found by a federal judge to have been “wrongfully” deported by the Trump administration has been returned to the United States and “is in immigration custody,” his attorney confirmed.

The man, referred to only as O.C.G., landed in California via a commercial flight on Wednesday and spoke with his legal team. Trina Realmuto of the National Immigration Litigation Alliance told Law&Crime that “if [the Department of Homeland Security] again seeks to deport him to a third country, he must be given the due process, including notice and an opportunity to present a fear-based claim.”

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Upon landing, O.C.G. was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and transported to a detention facility in Arizona where immigration proceedings will continue pursuant to the orders of U.S. District Judge for Massachusetts Brian Murphy.

On May 23, Murphy, a Joe Biden appointee, ordered the administration to “facilitate” O.C.G.’s return to the U.S., finding his swift deportation to Mexico “troubling” given the man’s fear that he would be persecuted in that country. Murphy maintained that while an immigration judge’s withholding order barring O.C.G. from being expelled to Guatemala was followed, the man was not given a proper opportunity to state his worries of being targeted in Mexico — especially as he alleged to the judge that he was mistreated there just last year.

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The judge excoriated the administration for the “banal horror” of the expulsion — finding the man in February was “wrongfully loaded onto a bus and sent back to a country where he was allegedly just raped and kidnapped.” O.C.G. said he was then given a choice of remaining detained in Mexico indefinitely or returning to Guatemala. He chose the latter option and reportedly went into hiding.

The administration responded to Murphy within five days, as it was ordered to, telling the judge it was working with “ICE Air” to bring O.C.G. back to the U.S. The Justice Department’s status report appeared to be the administration’s most significant step to securing the return of a deportee deemed improperly expelled.

The case marked a notable change from others, such as that of deported Maryland man Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration has admitted should not have been expelled to El Salvador, where he remains. Still, federal officials’ return of O.C.G. did not stop them from criticizing Murphy for his decision.

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“America’s asylum system was never intended to be used as a de facto amnesty program or a catch-all, get-out-of-deportation-free card,” DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement, arguing Mexico actually was a “safe third option” for O.C.G.

She then lobbed attacks at Murphy similar to those President Donald Trump has at federal judges who have halted or altogether rejected his sweeping executive measures.

“Yet, this federal activist judge ordered us to bring him back, so he can have an opportunity to prove why he should be granted asylum to a country that he has had no past connection to,” McLaughlin added. “The Trump administration is committed to returning our asylum system to its original intent.”

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