In a sharply worded rebuke to U.S. immigration officials, a federal judge has ordered the return of a young Venezuelan man wrongly deported to El Salvador — the second such case to rock the administration’s efforts to fast-track removals under a centuries-old wartime statute.
The man, known only as Cristian, had been tossed into El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), part of a mass deportation effort targeting more than 250 alleged gang members. But Judge Stephanie Gallagher of Baltimore said not so fast — his removal violated the very settlement the government had agreed to.
That agreement, signed in 2023, protects thousands of migrants who arrived in the U.S. as unaccompanied minors and applied for asylum. According to the judge, Cristian’s deportation effectively gutted the heart of that deal. “You can’t pull the asylum rug out from under someone mid-process,” she wrote, in essence.
This is now the second time in recent weeks that the court has told the administration to retrieve someone it had deported to El Salvador. The first was Kilmar Abrego Garcia — another migrant who, according to the government itself, shouldn’t have been on that outbound plane.
In both cases, officials invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a relic from 1798 meant to address threats during wartime. Under that law, Cristian was deemed an “enemy” and deported — a classification the administration claims exempts him from asylum protections. Gallagher, however, ruled that the settlement agreement applies to anyone with a pending asylum application, period.
The court didn’t weigh in on whether the use of the Alien Enemies Act was legal — that’s a separate, unfolding battle. But the judge made clear that immigration authorities must first honor the legal process: process asylum claims first, deport later (if at all).
Now, the administration must make a “good faith request” to El Salvador for Cristian’s release and safe return to U.S. soil. It’s also been ordered to halt the deportation of any other migrants covered by the agreement.
The ruling comes as El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele floats his own geopolitical chess move — offering to send those 252 Venezuelans back to Caracas in exchange for Venezuelan political prisoners held in his country.
Whether that deal ever sees daylight remains to be seen. But one thing’s certain: the courts aren’t done wrestling with the consequences of fast-track deportation, and Cristian’s journey from the shadows of a Salvadoran prison back to U.S. soil just became the latest chapter in a larger legal reckoning.
