Judge Orders Return to USA of Wrongly Deported Man from Guatemala

Federal District Court Judge Brian Murphy ordered Guatemalan man “O.C.G.” brought back to the USA from Mexico, to which Immigration and Customs Enforcement wrongfully deported him.

This is at least the third time Donald Trump’s regime has been ordered by a court to retrieve someone it deported wrongfully and without due process.

“O.C.G.” left Guatemala in April 2024. He says during his travel through Mexico, he was raped, targeted due to being gay, and kidnapped until his sister paid ransom to get him released. He has no criminal history. He is currently in hiding.

Murphy wrote, “In general, this case presents no special facts or legal circumstances, only the banal horror of a man being wrongfully loaded onto a bus and sent back to a country where he was allegedly just raped and kidnapped.” Nobody “ever suggested that O.C.G. poses any sort of security threat.”

ICE claimed “O.C.G.” agreed to be deported to Mexico. In court, government lawyers admitted that was incorrect. In a sworn statement, an official said “ICE was unable to identify an officer or officers” who even asked whether the man had a credible fear of going back to Mexico, let alone conducted a proper credible fear interview.

About this, in court Murphy said, “It is a big deal to lie to a court under oath. It is an extraordinarily big deal to do so when there are matters of national importance at stake. I take this extremely seriously.” He suggested he may call officials in to testify under oath.

In his decision, Murphy wrote:

While mistakes obviously happen, the events leading up to this decision are troubling. The Court was given false information, upon which it relied, twice, to the detriment of a party at risk of serious and irreparable harm.

and

Defendants’ retraction of their prior sworn statement makes inexorable the already-strong conclusion that O.C.G. is likely to succeed in showing that his removal lacked any semblance of due process.

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