U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration wrongfully deported another Maryland man in March in violation of a court settlement, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ruled this week.
The settlement agreement, which was approved in 2024 by Gallagher, prevents those who arrived in the U.S. as unaccompanied minors from being deported until their asylum applications are decided, according to court records.
The 20-year-old man from Venezuela, referred to in Wednesday’s court documents as “Cristian,” was deported to El Salvador despite having a pending asylum petition.
The settlement stems from a 2019 class action lawsuit filed by a group of undocumented immigrants who arrived in the U.S. as unaccompanied minors and wanted to ensure its members stayed in the country while their asylum applications were decided, court records show.
This case comes after another Maryland man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, was mistakenly deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center due to an “administrative error” last month, according to the Associated Press.
[Sen. Chris Van Hollen meets with wrongly deported Maryland man in El Salvador]
In her ruling on Wednesday, Gallagher wrote that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, as well as some officials of those agencies, violated the terms of the agreement. She ordered that the federal government facilitate the return of Cristian to the U.S. while his asylum claim is still being decided.
Gallagher wrote that the government must make a “good faith request” to El Salvador’s government to facilitate the return of the deported Venezuelan man to U.S. custody until his asylum application is decided.
“Standing by and taking no action is not facilitation,” Gallagher wrote.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who in April ordered the federal government to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, paused an order on Wednesday requiring the government to provide updates on its efforts to retrieve him from El Salvador.
Trump administration officials have not carried out her order, claiming they lack the authority to bring him back to the U.S., the Associated Press reported.
[El Salvadoran president said he won’t return wrongfully deported Maryland man]
ICE detained Abrego Garcia in 2019 after a confidential informant alleged he was a member of the international gang MS-13’s New York chapter, according to the Associated Press. But Abrego Garcia never lived in the state, the news agency reported.
But an immigration judge protected Abrego Garcia from deportation to El Salvador later that year because of the probability he would face persecution from gangs if returned to the country.
Last week, U.S. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-M.d.) travelled to El Salvador to meet with Abrego Garcia at the Terrorism Confinement Center, but was denied access to the mega-prison by soldiers, he said in a video posted on X. But the senator was able to meet with Abrego Garcia, who was moved to a different prison in Santa Ana, the next day, he said during a press conference on Friday.
