Lawyers for a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker who was wrongly deported earlier this year will ask a federal judge in coming days to consider opening criminal contempt proceedings against the Trump administration for “egregious violations” of her orders.
The potential proceedings would open a major new front in the monthslong legal saga surrounding the man, referred to only as “Cristian” in court filings, who was deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador in mid-March under the Alien Enemies Act, a sweeping 18th-century wartime authority President Donald Trump invoked to speed up removals of migrants his administration claimed are members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Last week, he was sent back to his home country as part of a prisoner swap with Venezuela.
US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, of the federal court in Baltimore, decided earlier this year that Cristian’s deportation violated a court settlement protecting some young migrants with pending asylum claims and ordered officials to “facilitate” his return to the US so he can have his asylum application resolved. The government did little to carry out her directive and his case largely flew under the radar in recent months.
But last week, Cristian was among a group of about 250 Venezuelans who had been imprisoned in El Salvador’s CECOT prison that were flown back to their home country in exchange for 10 US nationals.
“He was a pawn in this prisoner exchange deal,” Cristian’s lawyer, Kevin DeJong, said during a hearing on Tuesday in the case. “They were taking active, purposeful steps to deport him to the country in which he actually fears persecution.”
The attorney told the judge that “given the history of violations here, criminal contempt should be on the table.”
“There have been recurring violations and just blatant disregard for the settlement agreement, the court’s orders,” DeJong said. “Someone should be held accountable for these egregious violations.”
He said they would file a request for the judge to consider opening criminal contempt proceedings within the next 10 days.
Gallagher, who was appointed to the bench by Trump during his first term, said DeJong had “proffered a basis under which you could seek some sanctions or contempt,” but was careful to note that she wasn’t at this time making any early conclusions on the matter.
The judge, too, seemed skeptical that her earlier directive had been complied with. Until Tuesday, a court-ordered fact-finding process had been underway to determine what officials had been doing to carry out her order. The judge put that process on hold since Cristian is no longer in El Salvador.
But, she said, “It wouldn’t be moot as to whether my orders were complied with or not.”
Justice Department attorney Ruth Ann Mueller pushed back strongly during Tuesday’s hearing on DeJong’s claims that the government hasn’t complied with court orders in the case and claimed that officials would remove “domestic barriers” that would prevent Cristian from returning stateside.
“Should Cristian wish to return, the government is ready and able to facilitate that,” she told the judge.
Cristian’s case has in some ways mirrored that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. He had been living in Maryland until March when the Trump administration moved him to CECOT under a different immigration authority.
A separate judge in Maryland ordered officials to “facilitate” his return, and his attorneys are similarly seeking sanctions against the government for their alleged failure to comply with that judge’s rulings.
Abrego Garcia was eventually brought back to the US to face human smuggling charges in Tennessee. He has pleaded not guilty.
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