logo
Lawyers say Venezuelan migrant ordered returned to US sent to home country under prisoner exchange

Lawyers say Venezuelan migrant ordered returned to US sent to home country under prisoner exchange

Independent6 days ago
Despite a judge's order calling for his return to the United States from El Salvador, a Venezuelan migrant was instead sent back to his home country in a prisoner exchange deal reached last week, an unexpected development that left his lawyers scrambling to locate him.
It marks the latest wrinkle in yet another messy court battle over the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration, which has repeatedly challenged the power of federal courts.
Attorneys for the Venezuelan native — identified only as Cristian in court papers — said during a court hearing Tuesday that they don't know where he is or how to get in touch with him.
After he was deported to a Salvadoran mega-prison in March, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ordered the government to facilitate the his return to the U.S. She cited the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to the same notorious prison.
Cristian is among a group of plaintiffs who entered the country as unaccompanied children seeking asylum. A 2019 settlement agreement said they couldn't be deported until their asylum claims were adjudicated. Because his application is still pending, Gallagher said, the Trump administration violated that agreement in sending Cristian to a notorious prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, which was built to hold alleged gang members.
And now he's back in Venezuela, the country he escaped years ago because he feared persecution, his attorneys argued during Tuesday's hearing in federal court in Baltimore.
'They sent him back to the one country he's actually seeking asylum from,' attorney Kevin DeJong told the court. 'We were shocked to see that happen on Friday.'
Cristian was released from CECOT along with 251 other Venezuelan migrants who had been imprisoned in El Salvador since March. President Donald Trump paid El Salvador $6 million to house them there after he issued a proclamation calling for the arrest and removal of Venezuelan gang members under the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 wartime law.
As part of the deal on Friday, Venezuela released 10 jailed U.S. citizens and permanent residents in exchange for getting back the 252 deportees.
'Cristian was a pawn in this plan, I don't know how else to say it,' DeJong said. 'He was a pawn in this prisoner exchange deal.'
DeJong said Cristian's legal team hasn't been able to get in touch with him since.
Gallagher, who was nominated to the federal bench by Trump in 2019, told the government's lawyers Tuesday to help provide contact information for Cristian. But Justice Department attorney Ruth Ann Mueller wasn't able to confirm even where in Venezuela he ended up.
'This is a fast-evolving situation,' she said.
The judge said she's seen no evidence showing the Trump administration tried to get Cristian sent directly to the U.S. upon his release from prison in El Salvador.
Attorneys for the plaintiffs said they plan to file a motion requesting sanctions against the government for failing to comply with the court's orders.
Mueller, however, argued they were in compliance, saying she believes 'what happened with El Salvador is moot now,' given Cristian's release. She said facilitating his return looks 'very different now that he's in Venezuela.' The first step would be Cristian's lawyers contacting him and confirming whether he indeed wants to return to the U.S.
Before his deportation, he was transferred into federal custody from a jail in Harris County, Texas, in January.
Immigration officials have already determined that Cristian isn't entitled to asylum, according to earlier testimony from the government. But his lawyers argue he's still entitled to a ruling on the merits of his asylum application by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Attorneys for the government wrote in court papers last week that Venezuelan leaders have pledged not to interfere with travel plans for anyone in Cristian's position who has to attend legal proceedings in the U.S.
'With these assurances now having been obtained, and Cristian now having been released from El Salvador's custody, the Department of State has pledged to assist the Department of Homeland Security in facilitating the return of Cristian should he wish to return,' the attorneys wrote.
Mellissa Harper, acting assistant director of enforcement and removal operations for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a written declaration to the court that State Department and embassy officials have assumed responsibility for high-level diplomatic discussions about the situation.
Gallagher ordered the government to file weekly status reports as the case proceeds.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Venezuelan men deported to notorious CECOT prison say they were raped and beaten by guards
Venezuelan men deported to notorious CECOT prison say they were raped and beaten by guards

The Independent

time5 minutes ago

  • The Independent

Venezuelan men deported to notorious CECOT prison say they were raped and beaten by guards

Three Venezuelan men sent to the notorious prison in El Salvador by the Trump administration have alleged that they were tortured, with one claiming he was sexually assaulted, according to NBC News. The men spent four months at the Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, allegedly being subjected to beatings, leaving bruises and cuts. They also reportedly experienced psychological abuse and were denied things like food and access to bathrooms. In March, the Trump administration sent roughly 250 Venezuelan men deported from the U.S. to CECOT amid accusations that they were members of the Tren de Aragua gang, which has been rejected by many of the men as well as their families and attorneys. A prisoner swap recently saw most of the Venezuelans being held at CECOT freed. The three men who spoke to NBC News were released and taken to Venezuela on July 18 as part of a prisoner swap with the U.S. Andry Hernandez Romero, 32, is a gay asylum-seeker from Venezuela. He told the network that during his time at CECOT, he was taken to solitary confinement, where staff members 'made me kneel, perform oral sex on one person, while the others groped me and touched my private parts' and 'stroked me with their batons.' He added that the guards wore masks and the room didn't have artificial light in the room, with light only coming in via a hole in the ceiling. 'I didn't want to eat. I didn't want to do absolutely anything,' he told NBC News. 'The only thing I did was stay laying down, look at the toilet, remember my family, asking myself a million questions.' Hernandez noted that if detainees attempted to complain about abuse, they would often end up being beaten by guards. The Salvadoran government has previously said it follows safety and order standards, while the CECOT director told CNN that 'the whole operation is based on strict respect for human rights.' The U.S. Department of Homeland Security pointed to the Salvadoran government for comment, telling NBC News the men were 'not U.S. citizens or under U.S. jurisdiction.' Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin told NBC News when asked whether the U.S. would continue to send people to CECOT that 'whether it is CECOT, Alligator Alcatraz, Guantanamo Bay or another detention facility, these dangerous criminals will not be allowed to terrorize U.S. citizens.' President Donald Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem 'are using every tool available to get criminal illegal aliens off our streets and out of our country,' McLaughlin said. 'Our message is clear: Criminals are not welcome in the United States.' Last week, Neiyerver Adrian Leon Rengel was arrested outside his Texas apartment on the day he turned 27. He was deported to CECOT just two days later. He filed a complaint with DHS alleging that he 'endured physical, verbal and psychological abuse,' such as routine beatings by guards using their fists and batons. It's the first legal action against the Trump administration following the prisoner swap that saw the release of more than 250 Venezuelans from the prison. Rengel is seeking $1.3 million in damages, including allegations of wrongful detention and personal injury. The claim is the initial step towards a lawsuit. His allegations were echoed by the men who recently spoke to NBC. 'Our daily bread there as Venezuelans were beatings, threats. For whatever circumstance,' Hernandez told NBC News. 'If you answer an official, they hit you. ... If you talk, they hit you.' 'Every time they went to hit a large group outside, they would put us in the required position so we couldn't see,' he added. 'And to hear the moans, to hear how they were hitting the people was also very heavy.' Andry Blanco Bonilla, 40, said he and other Venezuelans were verbally, psychologically and physically abused from the first day at CECOT. 'There were so many moments of anguish and terror,' he told NBC News in Spanish. 'I feared for my life.' He added that when they arrived at the megaprison, they were shackled tightly at the ankles, leading to cuts and bruises from walking. Punishments included being denied food and being prevented bathroom access. Blanco Bonilla, an asylum seeker, said a prison official told the detainees, 'Welcome to CECOT. Welcome to hell.' 'You will not be leaving here. Your days are over,' the official added, according to the former detainee. 'They tried to avoid hitting our faces. They kicked us in the back or ribs,' he told NBC News. 'When they made us get on our knees, they would step on our toes with their boots. They hit us with batons, they hit us on the head.' He said he was seen by a prison doctor who asked him why he had been hitting himself. Jerce Reyes, 36, told the network that one guard urged detainees to 'commit suicide.' 'This is how your whole nightmare ends,' the guard said. 'I did think about committing suicide at some point. But I thought about my two daughters, I thought about my family,' said Reyes.

How US-EU aerospace rivals united to preserve tariff-free aircraft trade
How US-EU aerospace rivals united to preserve tariff-free aircraft trade

Reuters

time6 minutes ago

  • Reuters

How US-EU aerospace rivals united to preserve tariff-free aircraft trade

PARIS, July 28 (Reuters) - A provisional deal between the United States and European Union to exempt aircraft from tariffs avoids a potential threat to jet production and deliveries in both regions and caps months of uncharacteristic unity among plane-making rivals. The framework deal, announced on Sunday, will see the U.S. impose a 15% import tariff on most EU goods but offer protection for industries including aerospace, with zero-for-zero tariffs on aircraft and parts, European officials said. Following intense lobbying, it spares an industry that is often a lightning rod for trade tensions, with the World Trade Organization tested to its limits by a 17-year dispute over Airbus and Boeing subsidies before a truce in 2021. Aircraft, engines, spare parts, and components from landing gear to seats had faced potentially higher costs and some jet deliveries looked set to be disrupted by the threatened U.S. tariffs that would have compounded supply chain problems. Still, questions remain over detailed implementation of the deal and whether it will extend to other components like space. "We are just waiting until we see these things written down," one European industry official told Reuters. Airbus said it had taken note of the deal. "A stable and predictable trade environment is essential for our highly integrated global aerospace industry," it said. Boeing had no immediate comment. Sunday's agreement follows a discreet and unusually united campaign to revert to a landmark 1979 agreement between over 30 nations that mandated duty-free trading in civil aircraft. An industry that only a few years earlier had torn itself apart over trade disputes on subsidies involving Airbus and Boeing found itself in lockstep on both sides of the Atlantic. But two terms from the industry's previous trade handbook were quietly dropped, sources said: multilateral and WTO. The 1979 Agreement on Trade in Civil Aircraft that eliminated tariffs on aircraft and parts is one of a handful of industry-specific deals that survived from an earlier round of trade talks when the World Trade Organization opened in 1995. U.S. President Donald Trump, who once called the WTO "the single worst trade deal ever made," appears to prefer bilateral deals over broad alliances from trade to security, and "multilateralism" is one of the biggest bugbears of his America First philosophy. Lobbying was intense from all quarters but industry sources highlighted a discreet but influential role played by GE Aerospace (GE.N), opens new tab CEO Larry Culp. Culp told Reuters in April he had advocated re-establishing the tariff-free regime for the aerospace industry during a meeting with Trump at the White House. He said the position was "understood" by the administration, stressing that the zero-duty regime had helped the U.S. aerospace industry reach a $75 billion annual trade surplus. Industry officials also argued aerospace was interconnected and that U.S. tariffs would not favour Boeing at the expense of its European rival Airbus, but merely hurt everyone. GE did not have any immediate comment on the new deal. In May, Trump reached a trade accord with Britain that tested the ground by restoring duty-free trading in jet engines. After the US-UK trade deal, aerospace industry officials urged the White House to use it as a template for future trade negotiations. GE's Culp and Delta Air Lines (DAL.N), opens new tab CEO Ed Bastian mentioned the deal as a template to follow. The agreement stops short of restoring the whole 1979 agreement and focuses on the single largest aerospace markets. Boeing typically delivers 17% of its jets to Europe while Airbus delivers some 12% to the United States, some of which are assembled locally, according to Boeing and Cirium data. But Europe and the U.S. are each other's largest market for aircraft components, according to French industry lobby Gifas. Although the agreement relieves one significant source of pressure, there are concerns that Boeing, Airbus and their suppliers could still be caught up indirectly in trade tensions between Washington and China, as they seek to do business there. Aerospace companies are also awaiting findings from an ongoing U.S. trade investigation into aerospace. In May, the U.S. Commerce Department launched a "Section 232" national security investigation into imports of commercial aircraft, jet engines and parts that could form the basis for tariffs or quotas. U.S. airlines who met the department say much of the focus has been on China and concerns over potential further disruption to key supplies, on top of rare earths and magnets. It could also be used to impose new tariffs on Brazil, home to Embraer, for whose regional jets there are few alternatives. U.S. carriers currently face 50% tariffs on imports of the jets, which Embraer says could add $9 million per plane. Alaska Air (ALK.N), opens new tab said last week it could defer some deliveries.

Twelfth man charged over asylum hotel protests in Epping
Twelfth man charged over asylum hotel protests in Epping

BBC News

time6 minutes ago

  • BBC News

Twelfth man charged over asylum hotel protests in Epping

A 12th person has been charged in connection with incidents of disorder linked to protests outside a hotel housing asylum seekers, police said. Essex Police said demonstrations outside The Bell Hotel, Epping, Essex, on Saturday and Sunday were peaceful.A 52-year-old man from Loughton, Essex, has been charged with a public order offence in connection with previous protests. He remains on bail until a hearing at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on 3 October, police said. Ch Supt Simon Anslow said: "As a police force we aren't here to take sides, we are here simply to protect the public and maintain law and order, facilitating peaceful protest but also allowing all people in Epping to go about their lives with minimal disruption."I'm really grateful to the law-abiding majority of attendees at the two most recent protests in Epping."They've got a right to make their views and their voices heard and they've done so in a peaceful way. The engagement I have seen has been largely respectful."However it's really important that we continue to show that previous violence, against our officers, against property and against people at the hotel, is unacceptable and will be dealt with." The protests - against the use of the hotel - have followed a man living in the hotel being arrested, and subsequently charged, with sexual assault, harassment and inciting a girl to engage in sexual Kebatu, 41, from Ethiopia, has denied the offences and is in custody. Follow Essex news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store