Judge Orders Retrieval of a Second Man from Prison in El Salvador

Federal District Court Judge Stephanie Gallagher ordered Donald Trump’s regime to retrieve a second man who was wrongly renditioned in violation of a 2019 class action court case to the notorious CECOT prison in El Salvador, and to not deport others in the same protected class.

Gallagher also ordered the regime not to deport anyone else covered by the class action settlement, which occurred in a case on behalf of immigrants who came to the USA as unaccompanied minors and went on to request asylum. The case was settled in 2024, allowing members of the class to stay in the USA and not be deported while their asylum applications are processed.

The case before Gallagher refers to the plaintiff with a pseudonym “Cristian.” He was renditioned to CECOT in one of the three flights to El Salvador on 15 March 2025 which are the focal point of a number of court cases asserting that the transfers without due process were illegal.

Deporting him in any manner to anywhere was a breach of contract, violating last year’s settlement agreement.

Gallagher’s ruling connects with the case of wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia. She wrote that “like Judge [Paula] Xinis in the Abrego Garcia 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.”

Robert Cerna, the Acting Field Office Director for Enforcement and Removal Operations within Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said in a sworn statement that “On January 6, 2025, [“Cristian”] was convicted in the 482nd District Court at Harris County, Texas for the offense of possession of cocaine, a Texas state jail felony.”

For this, lawyers for Trump’s regime argued that “Cristian” became an alien enemy, and that by declaring him as such, they removed him from the class of people protected by the settlement. Attorneys for “Cristian” countered that the settlement did not allow for carving people out of its class this way.

Lawyers for the affected class said another Venezuelan in the class, an 18 year old named Javier, was in imminent danger of deportation.

Gallagher found that Javier was in the protected class. She issued a temporary restraining order barring his removal from the USA, and barred removal of other people in the class covered by the settlement.

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