Trump administration In one case, people admitted a new mistake, challenging its attempt to be deported to any country that would be taken to any country. Another immigrant who gained protection status was driven out of the country and posed a danger, while U.S. officials provided only shrugs.
This time, the immigrant is a gay man from Guatemala who fled the death threat and twice attempted to seek asylum in the United States. First, he was denied and deported. He tried again last year and said he was redeemed and sexually assaulted while traveling through Mexico.
The man identified as OCG in court documents and won his case in February when a U.S. immigration judge granted him the hijacking resignation, deporting him from the deportation to Guatemala as he faces the risk of injury. The Trump administration immediately sent him to Mexico. Threatened by prolonged detention, OCG left Mexico and returned to the country where Guatemala (the judge said he should not be sent) and is now hiding there.
The Trump administration initially claimed that the OCG did not express concerns about being sent to Mexico, which could prevent his deportation. But on Friday, the government admitted that its claim was based on false data input and that there was no record of supporting that claim. Then, over the weekend, the government exacerbated the error by briefly revealing the man’s full name in court documents, violating confidentiality rules. The Atlantic did not publish his name because his lawyer argued in court that it was certain that he might put his life at risk, especially when he was hiding.
OCG is one of several plaintiffs whose lawsuit has slowed down the government's attempt to push thousands of deported people to a country that is not its own. Under U.S. immigration laws, allowing people to be sent to third countries, and soliciting countries around the world is one of several unconventional strategies that the government uses when it is eager to increase its deportation. The OCG case follows Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador in March due to so-called administrative errors in the administration. Both men were refused removal by U.S. immigration judges, who determined that they were more likely to be harmed if sent back to their country of origin.
Thousands of immigrants live in the United States, which has the same status of protection, which allows them to work and have a social security number. Most people need regular inspections at the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Office, which makes it particularly easy to find. Under President Joe Biden, these immigrants are often alone. Under President Donald Trump, they have become targets for arrest and deportation.
Administration defends today's third country use: White House spokesman Abigail Jackson said in a statement that it is key to fulfilling Trump's commitment to voters deporting large numbers of immigrants. "If the home country of illegal foreigners cannot or will not accept their citizens, it doesn't mean they can stay here," Jackson said.
Senior administration officials have been forcing world leaders to accept deportees who are not their citizens in order to make it a way for Trump. El Salvador, Panama, Costa Rica and Mexico have obligations; attempts by countries such as Libya and Ukraine have not been successful yet.
Third country Strategies are designed to work in OCG cases, and even if the court believes that people are not in line with our asylum, the courts see it as a harmful risk.
Trump officials are in charge of the deportation campaign insist they have two priorities: There are nearly 8 million cases in which about 665,000 immigrants have criminal records on ICE's case files, and about 1.5 million immigrants are receiving deportation from judges, but are still in the country. (There is some overlap between the two groups.)
Before Trump took office, ICE officials estimated that only about half of immigrants could be deported in fact. Some people who may be deported are granted probation for medical conditions or other mitigation. However, other governments have not released statistics and are therefore allowed to stay because they have orders to retrieve or similar protections from the UN Convention on the Protection of Torture, the United States is the signator who promises not to send immigrants to places where they may face high levels of abuse.
Shortly after Trump took office, administration officials told ICE officials to re-examine such cases as part of a broader push to deportation. According to the ice memorandum I obtained, officials were directed to arrest immigrants who had the potential to be sent to a third country. The memorandum directs: “If evacuation appears likely in the reasonably foreseeable future, arrests may be made without further investigation.”
Since then, it is not clear how many people have removed from the United States. Some U.S. allies will accept deportation from third countries, especially Mexico, which began mass acceptance of non-Mexicans during the Biden administration. But these cases are usually limited to Central America and other Spanish-speaking people. Guatemala has agreed to host some deported people, and Trump has sent others to Panama and Costa Rica, some of whom have been offered to resettlement. El Salvadorian President Nayib Bukele is the only person to put immigrants in prison, with a charge of up to $15 million.
Trump officials will work hard as a diplomatic priority. At a televised cabinet meeting on April 30, Secretary of State Marco Rubio confirmed that the government had discussed with other countries. Rubio said: “I don’t hesitate to say: We are actively looking for other countries, not just El Salvador.
"The further away, the further they can't get back to the border," he added.
U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy, who is responsible for litigation for OCG and others, ruled in March that the government could not send the deported person to a third country without written notice and due process. The First Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Murphy's ruling on Friday. The decision was one of several decisions to thwart the government’s deportation plan. The Supreme Court effectively stopped the administration's attempt to use the Alien Enemy Act on Friday, with the Trump administration deploying in March to send Venezuelans to El Salvadors.
Lawyers representing clients from Vietnam, Laos and the Philippines rushed to court earlier this month, claiming Trump officials were preparing to send their clients to Saudi Arabia or Libya. Murphy confirmed that such a move would be an illegal violation of his orders.
Meanwhile, Libyan authorities “absolutely deny” any agreement with the US takeover. The country has been in conflict since the overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi in 2011. NBC News reported that Trump officials are urging Libya to recruit up to one million displaced Palestinians from Gaza as part of the president's plan to seize control of the enclave.
Although Murphy has prevented the Trump administration from sending immigrants to countries without due process, those who have been sent out, even wrong, have no clear path to return.
ICE official Brian Ortega said in a sworn in statement late Friday that his previous claim that OCG is not afraid of being deported to Mexico was based on data. "After further investigation, Ice cannot identify whether the OCG is concerned about officials or officials returning to Mexico," Ortega told the court.
Over the weekend, the Justice Department lawyer improperly posted the man's name, so a new mistake occurred during the weekend, with OCG's mistake being deported. There is no indication that the disclosure was intentional, and the government re-filmed the application filed by the court a day later and edited the name as required by law to protect the confidentiality of asylum seekers who may face harm or retaliation in their own country.
OCG's lawyers have filed a motion to force the government to bring him back to the United States. They said the government “has greatly exacerbated the risk of harm to the plaintiff OCG by disclosing his identity on public cases, which has attracted media attention and exacerbated threats to his life and safety.”
OCG's age and other biographical details were edited in court documents, and he tried to show Arizona's ICE officials the protection orders of immigration judges as they prepare to deport him in February. According to his lawyer, the officer told him that the document had been "expired" and he was taken on a deportation bus. When he asked to call the lawyer, the officer told him it was too late.
In another case of wrongdoing, the federal appeals court in Virginia yesterday upheld the Trump-appointed judge's ruling, which ordered the government to promote the return of Venezuelans to Venezuelans the same day as Abrego Garcia. The judge ruled that the man, Daniel Lozano-Camarago, was deported, in violation of the settlement involving asylum seekers.
But federal courts have little success, forcing the Trump administration to resolve its deportation error. It has been more than a month since the Supreme Court told the White House to promote Abrego Garcia's release from El Salvador prison. He is still there, and the Trump administration hasn't said anything publicly, if anything, to bring him back.