Trump-tapped judge blasts White House's ‘utter disregard' over wrongfully deported asylum seeker

Independent

3 days ago

Donald Trump 's administration has 'utterly disregarded' a court order for information about a wrongly deported Venezuelan asylum seeker sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, who was appointed by Trump during his first term, told the man's attorneys to put together a record of the administration's 'lack of compliance' — all but ordering contempt hearings in one of several high-profile legal battles over the president's use of the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport immigrants.
Last month, Gallagher ordered the government to 'facilitate' his release from that country's brutal jail. But when ordered to cough up a status report about his condition, government attorneys essentially only told the court 'we haven't done anything and don't intend to,' Gallagher wrote on Friday.
Gallagher previously found that the government's removal of a 20-year-old Venezuelan man named in court documents as 'Cristian' violated a court settlement intended to protect young immigrants who have pending asylum claims.
He was deported with dozens of alleged Venezuelan members of the Trend de Aragua gang under the president's use of the Alien Enemies Act in March.
The administration was ordered to compile a status report about his 'current physical location and custodial status,' as well as what steps, if any, the government is taking to 'facilitate' his release from the prison, and what the government intends to do when he is returned.
Instead, government attorneys not only blew past a deadline to answer, but also 'simply reiterated their well-worn talking points on their reasons for removing Cristian and failed to provide any of the information the court required,' Gallagher wrote.
Administration officials 'not only ignore the requirements of this court's orders … but also make no attempt to offer any justification for their blatant lack of effort to comply,' according to Gallagher.
The government's response 'adds nothing to the underlying record' and reflects 'zero effort' to comply with court orders, she wrote.
She called on Cristian's lawyers to initiate 'a process to create an appropriate record on defendants' lack of compliance with this court's orders' and gave the administration until Monday to cure it.
Cristian is one of three men the Trump administration has been ordered to return to the United States following legal battles over their removal.
The order for Cristian's return followed the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran immigrant living in Maryland who was deported to his home country despite an immigration judge's 2019 order preventing removal from the United States for humanitarian reasons. The Supreme Court unanimously called his removal 'illegal' and similarly ordered the government to 'facilitate' his return.
Last week, another judge ordered the administration to 'facilitate' the return of a wrongly deported Guatemalan man sent to Mexico, where he says he survived rape and kidnapping. This week, government attorneys said they would obey the order and arranged a flight to return him.
According to a sworn statement from Immigration and Customs Enforcement official Robert Cerna, Cristian was arrested in Texas for cocaine possession in January.
The Trump administration has argued that Cristian's removal did not violate a settlement over his removal because his 'designation as an an alien enemy' under the Alien Enemies Act 'results in him ceasing to be a member' of the protected class in the settlement.
The administration argues that anyone alleged to be a member of the gang is 'no longer eligible for asylum.'
Another court order striking at the president's deportation agenda underscores a growing tension between the judiciary and the administration, which has been repeatedly accused of defying court orders and violating due process protections over his attempts to swiftly remove immigrants.
Last week, the Supreme Court agreed to continue blocking immigration officials from summarily deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act jailed in Texas while legal challenges play out.
The 7-2 decision — with conservative justices Samuel Alito and Clarence Thomas dissenting — argues that the immigrants detained in Texas under the controversial war-time law must have 'sufficient time and information to reasonably be able to' get in touch with lawyers and file legal challenges.
Trump called the decision a 'bad and dangerous day for America.'