Maryland U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher issued an order yesterday requiring the Trump administration to facilitate the return to the U.S. of a 20-year-old Venezuelan man whom it deported to El Salvador.
The removal of the man, who is referred to by the pseudonym “Cristian” in court records, violated a previous court settlement from November 2024. He was part of a group of plaintiffs who sued the government in 2019, having come to the U.S. as an unaccompanied minor and later seeking asylum, according to the judge’s memorandum opinion.
The filing said U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement removed Cristian on March 15 — despite his pending asylum application — and he was sent to a prison in El Salvador.
Gallagher, who was appointed by Trump, wrote that the Trump administration removed the man “without adjudication of his asylum petition.” She said the administration has “provided no evidence or even any specific allegations, as to how Cristian, or any other Class Member, poses a threat to public safety.”
She referenced the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, saying that similar to the judge in that matter, “this Court will order Defendants to facilitate Cristian’s return to the United States so that he can receive the process he was entitled to under the parties’ binding Settlement Agreement.”
“Facilitation includes, but is not limited to, a good faith request by Defendants to the government of El Salvador to release Cristian to U.S. custody for transport back to the United States,” she wrote in the order.
The Trump administration, according to the judge’s opinion, argues that Cristian’s removal didn’t violate the original settlement agreement because it designated him as an “alien enemy” using the Alien Enemies Act, and therefore he’s no longer eligible for asylum.
The Department of Homeland Security and the White House didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
