Latest news with #Salvadoran
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
A court halted his deportation. The Trump administration deported him 28 minutes later.
The Trump administration has admitted that it improperly deported another immigrant in violation of a court order — the fourth known case in which the administration deported someone erroneously or in breach of specific legal requirements. Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, had been in immigration detention since 2022 while deportation proceedings against him were pending. But on May 7, shortly after a federal appeals court ordered the government to keep him in the United States, immigration authorities deported him back to his native country. Matthew Borowski, a lawyer for Melgar-Salmeron, told POLITICO that he intends to ask the court to order the government to return his client from El Salvador and to hold government officials in contempt. In court papers this week, officials blamed a 'confluence of administrative errors,' including missed emails and an inaccurate roster of passengers on the May 7 deportation flight. The Justice Department declined to comment, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. The deportation of Melgar-Salmeron was first reported by the Investigative Post, a nonprofit news outlet in western New York. The episode is reminiscent of three other deportations that courts have declared illegal or improper in recent months: Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was deported to El Salvador in violation of an immigration judge's order. Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a Venezuelan man who was deported to El Salvador in violation of a court-approved settlement. A Guatemalan man, identified in court by the initials O.C.G., who was deported to Mexico in what the administration now acknowledges was an error because he was not given a chance to exercise his legal right to raise fears that he would be tortured there. In each of those other three cases, judges have ordered the administration to try to bring the deportees back to the United States so that they can receive due process. The administration says it is working to return O.C.G. but has resisted the orders to return Abrego Garcia and Lozano-Camargo, claiming they are powerless because the men are in Salvadoran custody. Melgar-Salmeron, who spent years living in Virginia, had been in immigration detention since 2022 following a prison sentence for possessing an unregistered shotgun, according to court records. Though he had originally also been charged with entering the country illegally, he was allowed to plead guilty in 2021 to only the firearms charge. After his prison sentence ended, Melgar-Salmeron was detained by immigration authorities while deportation proceedings against him were ongoing. In January 2024, the Biden administration put Melgar-Salmeron's proceedings on hold amid broader litigation over immigration policy. But in April, the Trump administration moved to lift that hold, court documents show. Melgar-Salmeron had a longstanding appeal pending at the New York-based 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. The administration asked the court to 'expedite' the appeal and indicated that it wanted to deport him by May 9 'at the latest' — but told the court it would not act before May 8. On the morning of May 7, a three-judge panel of the court ordered the government to keep Melgar-Salmeron in the United States while he pursued claims about fear of torture in his home country. Despite the court's order, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at a staging facility in Louisiana loaded Melgar-Salmeron onto a plane and deported him to El Salvador. The flight departed at 10:20 a.m. — 28 minutes after the court's order. Melgar-Salmeron is now in a Salvadoran prison, Borowski says. When the court learned about the deportation, it sent pointed questions to the administration about what had happened. The court demanded sworn declarations from ICE officials responsible for the man's deportation and an explanation of why the court's order to block his deportation was apparently not conveyed to the people who put him on the flight to El Salvador. The judges noted that the administration had assured them that Melgar-Salmeron would not be deported until at least May 8. They demanded to know why his deportation was abruptly advanced to May 7 less than an hour after their order. In a letter to the court on Wednesday, the administration acknowledged that the deportation was erroneous. Kitty Lees, a Justice Department attorney, said there had been a breakdown at multiple levels of the process. 'Several inadvertent administrative oversights led to Petitioner's May 7, 2025 removal,' Lees wrote, 'despite the express assurance made by the Government to this Court that it would forbear removing Petitioner until May 8, 2025.' Among the errors: ICE Air Operations, which arranges deportation flights, had always planned to deport Melgar-Salmeron on May 7, when it had a long-scheduled deportation flight on the books. He was listed on the manifest for that May 7 flight weeks in advance. But the Buffalo-based ICE office responsible for Melgar-Salmeron's case wrote a different date — May 9 — into his official file, a date that was relayed to the Justice Department and the court. On May 6 and May 7, ICE Air emailed a flight manifest that included Melgar-Salmeron to the Buffalo office responsible for his case. The spreadsheet was automatically forwarded to four Buffalo officers, but not the one assigned to Melgar-Salmeron's case, who didn't see it until the flight had departed. 'Due to an oversight, and because of the volume of emails received pertaining to removal flights, the … Buffalo officers who received the emails did not forward them to Petitioner's assigned … Buffalo officer,' Lees wrote. 'For an unknown reason,' when ICE was boarding people onto the flight, Melgar-Salmeron did not appear and was stricken from the manifest as a 'no-show,' Lees added. During a second sweep of the facility, they located him and 'escorted him onto the airplane,' but the manifest was never updated to reflect that he had been found. The haphazard circumstances around Melgar-Salmeron's case bear some of the same hallmarks of other high-profile deportations that judges have sought to reverse. In March, the administration deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite a 2019 immigration court order that barred the government from sending him there because he could be at risk of violence at the hands of a local gang. A Justice Department lawyer acknowledged in court that the deportation had been improper, and a federal judge ordered the administration to facilitate his release from El Salvador's custody. The Supreme Court largely upheld that requirement and noted that the deportation had been 'illegal.' A different federal judge has also ordered the administration to facilitate the return of Lozano-Camargo, who was deported to El Salvador in violation of a court-approved settlement agreement that protected certain immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors. (He is referred to in court papers with a pseudonym, but POLITICO previously identified him as Lozano-Camargo.) Abrego Garcia and Lozano-Camargo remain in Salvadoran prisons. The Trump administration has claimed in court that it has no ability to force the Salvadoran government to return them to United States custody. The administration, however, says it has taken steps to arrange a flight to bring back O.C.G., the Guatemalan man who was deported to Mexico in February. The man claims he was raped and otherwise targeted for being gay during a previous stay in Mexico. Administration officials initially claimed in court that he was given a chance to raise fears about being sent back to Mexico, but they later retracted that assertion and admitted they have no evidence that he was ever asked about whether he feared violence there. A federal judge ruled that O.C.G. had been deported without proper due process and ordered the government to facilitate his return.
Politico
19 hours ago
- Politics
- Politico
A court halted his deportation. The Trump administration deported him 28 minutes later.
The Trump administration has admitted that it improperly deported another immigrant in violation of a court order — the fourth known case in which the administration deported someone erroneously or in breach of specific legal requirements. Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, an undocumented immigrant from El Salvador, had been in immigration detention since 2022 while deportation proceedings against him were pending. But on May 7, shortly after a federal appeals court ordered the government to keep him in the United States, immigration authorities deported him back to his native country. Matthew Borowski, a lawyer for Melgar-Salmeron, told POLITICO that he intends to ask the court to order the government to return his client from El Salvador and to hold government officials in contempt. In court papers this week, officials blamed a 'confluence of administrative errors,' including missed emails and an inaccurate roster of passengers on the May 7 deportation flight. The Justice Department declined to comment, and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to requests for comment. The deportation of Melgar-Salmeron was first reported by the Investigative Post, a nonprofit news outlet in western New York. The episode is reminiscent of three other deportations that courts have declared illegal or improper in recent months: In each of those other three cases, judges have ordered the administration to try to bring the deportees back to the United States so that they can receive due process. The administration says it is working to return O.C.G. but has resisted the orders to return Abrego Garcia and Lozano-Camargo, claiming they are powerless because the men are in Salvadoran custody. Melgar-Salmeron, who spent years living in Virginia, had been in immigration detention since 2022 following a prison sentence for possessing an unregistered shotgun, according to court records. Though he had originally also been charged with entering the country illegally, he was allowed to plead guilty in 2021 to only the firearms charge. After his prison sentence ended, Melgar-Salmeron was detained by immigration authorities while deportation proceedings against him were ongoing. In January 2024, the Biden administration put Melgar-Salmeron's proceedings on hold amid broader litigation over immigration policy. But in April, the Trump administration moved to lift that hold, court documents show. Melgar-Salmeron had a longstanding appeal pending at the New York-based 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. The administration asked the court to 'expedite' the appeal and indicated that it wanted to deport him by May 9 'at the latest' — but told the court it would not act before May 8. On the morning of May 7, a three-judge panel of the court ordered the government to keep Melgar-Salmeron in the United States while he pursued claims about fear of torture in his home country. Despite the court's order, Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at a staging facility in Louisiana loaded Melgar-Salmeron onto a plane and deported him to El Salvador. The flight departed at 10:20 a.m. — 28 minutes after the court's order. Melgar-Salmeron is now in a Salvadoran prison, Borowski says. When the court learned about the deportation, it sent pointed questions to the administration about what had happened. The court demanded sworn declarations from ICE officials responsible for the man's deportation and an explanation of why the court's order to block his deportation was apparently not conveyed to the people who put him on the flight to El Salvador. The judges noted that the administration had assured them that Melgar-Salmeron would not be deported until at least May 8. They demanded to know why his deportation was abruptly advanced to May 7 less than an hour after their order. In a letter to the court on Wednesday, the administration acknowledged that the deportation was erroneous. Kitty Lees, a Justice Department attorney, said there had been a breakdown at multiple levels of the process. 'Several inadvertent administrative oversights led to Petitioner's May 7, 2025 removal,' Lees wrote, 'despite the express assurance made by the Government to this Court that it would forbear removing Petitioner until May 8, 2025.' Among the errors: The haphazard circumstances around Melgar-Salmeron's case bear some of the same hallmarks of other high-profile deportations that judges have sought to reverse. In March, the administration deported Abrego Garcia to El Salvador despite a 2019 immigration court order that barred the government from sending him there because he could be at risk of violence at the hands of a local gang. A Justice Department lawyer acknowledged in court that the deportation had been improper, and a federal judge ordered the administration to facilitate his release from El Salvador's custody. The Supreme Court largely upheld that requirement and noted that the deportation had been 'illegal.' A different federal judge has also ordered the administration to facilitate the return of Lozano-Camargo, who was deported to El Salvador in violation of a court-approved settlement agreement that protected certain immigrants who came to the U.S. as minors. (He is referred to in court papers with a pseudonym, but POLITICO previously identified him as Lozano-Camargo.) Abrego Garcia and Lozano-Camargo remain in Salvadoran prisons. The Trump administration has claimed in court that it has no ability to force the Salvadoran government to return them to United States custody. The administration, however, says it has taken steps to arrange a flight to bring back O.C.G., the Guatemalan man who was deported to Mexico in February. The man claims he was raped and otherwise targeted for being gay during a previous stay in Mexico. Administration officials initially claimed in court that he was given a chance to raise fears about being sent back to Mexico, but they later retracted that assertion and admitted they have no evidence that he was ever asked about whether he feared violence there. A federal judge ruled that O.C.G. had been deported without proper due process and ordered the government to facilitate his return.
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Trump-tapped judge blasts White House's ‘utter disregard' over wrongfully deported asylum seeker
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.' 'THE SUPREME COURT WON'T ALLOW US TO GET CRIMINALS OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!' he wrote on Truth Social at the time.
San Francisco Chronicle
a day ago
- Business
- San Francisco Chronicle
This chef ran one of the Bay Area's best popups. Now he's opening his own spot
An Oakland popup known for late night eats is graduating into a full-blown bar and restaurant. Chisme is moving out of its sultry lair inside Oakland's Low Bar and over to 347 14th St., where the Kon-Tiki shook Mai Tais until its closing in December. Chef Manuel Bonilla said the new Bar Chisme will be more of a dive bar, with a small cocktail program with a few original drinks to complement his Filipino-Salvadoran cooking. Gone are the tropical trappings of the previous tiki bar for what will be a more casual, yet eclectic look. 'We're going for 'abuelita's house on acid'. Very homey and very chill,' he said. The owners of the Kon-Tiki, Christ Aivaliotis and Matt Reagan, shut down their popular spot late last year after seven years in business. Bonilla is familiar with the new location: He was the Kon-Tiki's opening chef. But his choice to return to the space amounts to a bet on the future of downtown Oakland, as Aiviolitis wrote in a profanity-laden screed that business in downtown Oakland was nearly impossible. Aivaliotis and Reagan approached Bonilla and his business partners to take over their old corner space. Bonilla is keeping the operation as minimal as possible to protect himself from increasing costs. Unlike its predecessor, there won't be any servers and all orders must be placed and picked up at the bar. The vision: 'Straight up no-frills, but with Chisme's food,' he said. Bonilla's resume isn't just dive bar food. It includes Oakland's two Michelin-starred Commis, and he currently works at modern Salvadoran restaurant Popoca. At Chisme, Bonilla's dishes have included yucca smothered in black beans, rich sisig pupusas and handmade chicken nuggets. Bar Chisme's menu will lean in a similar direction with the addition of a smashburger and a grilled burger. The house cocktails will feature ingredients like rums and agave distillates, also reflecting that influence. Chisme took over Low Bar's kitchen in March of last year after the venue's owners announced they were ending their kitchen program. Chisme had made appearances as a popup before settling into its residency. Bonilla's cooking and being the only open kitchen until close to midnight made Chisme a magnet for late night diners or an excuse to stick around for another drink. Chronicle restaurant critic Cesar Hernandez praised Bonilla's vision, which went from playful to layered. Dishes like tortas stuffed with lechon fuse cultural cues from his Filipino and Salvadoran background. 'His style is loose and fun but never misses a chance to impress, like the family member who steals the show on the dance floor,' he wrote. Chisme was ranked among the best new restaurants of 2024.
Yahoo
a day ago
- General
- Yahoo
ICE agents in Boston arrest migrant murderer, child rapists as Fox News rides along
Fox News embedded exclusively with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the greater Boston area this week, when agents were carrying out the arrests of hundreds of egregious criminal migrants in what the agency said is the largest operation it has undertaken since President Donald Trump returned to office. The sweeping operation, called "Patriot," is expected to hit 1,500 arrests and is targeting immigrants like a Salvadoran illegal immigrant convicted of child rape who went to prison and was deported in 2017. He was nabbed by ICE living right next to a children's playground. ICE also swooped on another illegal migrant who is on El Salvador's most wanted list and has an Interpol Red Notice for aggravated murder, aggravated kidnapping and robbery. Trump Administration Sets New Goal Of 3,000 Illegal Immigrant Arrests Daily Both arrests were captured exclusively on camera by Fox News, with ICE Boston telling Fox News that local ICE activists have been interfering in their operations this week. ICE deployed 19 teams across Massachusetts this week, and the agency brought in ICE teams from other parts of the country to assist. Read On The Fox News App It is in direct response to Massachusetts and Boston's sanctuary policies, where officials do not fully enforce or assist with federal immigration laws, as border czar Tom Homan has promised to surge ICE to these areas. Fox News is told that about 70% of the arrests are criminals with convictions or pending charges. Ice Touts Record-breaking Immigration Enforcement During Trump's First 100 Days Patricia Hyde, the head of ICE Boston, said it is not uncommon to see immigrants convicted of child rape roaming public streets close to where children play. "It's not unusual. Due to the open border policies, we are finding that plenty of people who have been previously deported and committed heinous crimes and were removed from the country are now back here, just living among us," Hyde said. "And now that's our job to go round them up." Fox News also joined ICE as they arrested a Colombian illegal immigrant facing pending charges for sexual assault of a child, as well as a Dominican illegal immigrant with a drug trafficking conviction who is now facing local charges for fentanyl distribution. Meanwhile, other arrests included a Guatemalan illegal immigrant who's facing charges in Massachusetts for aggravated child rape but was released from state custody. They also arrested a Honduran immigrant who is facing local charges for rape and was also released from local custody. Hyde said sanctuary jurisdictions are starting to escalate against ICE. On Thursday, activists tried to grab onto an illegal immigrant who had been handcuffed by ICE. In another incident, agents were staking out an illegal immigrant murderer's home and a crowd gathered and blew their cover. "I think the lack of cooperation is getting worse and worse, and it's putting law enforcement lives in danger," Hyde said. Hyde said that ICE agents will continue to round up dangerous criminal illegal migrants, despite pushback from local lawmakers and activists. "We're not going away. It might take us longer. It might be harder, but we're not going away, we're here," Hyde said. "We know what the American people voted for. We understand that we work for the American people and we're going to be here until we send everyone home."Original article source: ICE agents in Boston arrest migrant murderer, child rapists as Fox News rides along
