Court orders Trump administration to facilitate another deported man’s return from El Salvador

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WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court in New York on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a man who was deported to El Salvador roughly 30 minutes after the court suspended an order to remove him from the U.S.

The ruling in Jordin Alexander Melgar-Salmeron ‘s case marks at least the fourth time this year that President Donald Trump’s administration has been ordered to facilitate the return of somebody mistakenly deported.

The government said “a confluence of administrative errors” led to Melgar-Salmeron’s deportation on May 8, according to the decision by a three-judge panel from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

The panel said administration officials must facilitate his return to the U.S. “as soon as possible.” The judges gave them a week to identify his current physical location and custodial status and to specify what steps they will take to facilitate his return.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, whose mistaken deportation in March became a flashpoint in Trump’s immigration crackdown, was returned from El Salvador this month to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee.

In April, a Trump-nominated judge in Maryland ordered his administration to facilitate the return of a man who was deported to El Salvador in March despite having a pending asylum application. U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ruled that the government violated a 2019 settlement agreement when it deported the 20-year-old man, a Venezuelan native identified only as Cristian in court papers.

And in May, another judge ordered the administration to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man whom it deported to Mexico despite his fears of being harmed there. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy found that the removal of the man, who is gay, likely “lacked any semblance of due process.”