Judge Rules Against Trump: Deportation of Gay Man to Guatemala Wrongful
Judge Orders Trump Administration to Return Deported Guatemalan Man
A federal judge has ruled that the Trump administration acted improperly by deporting a Guatemalan man to Mexico, despite his fear of persecution there. The man, who is gay and identified in court documents as O.C.G., was initially granted protection from being returned to his home country by a U.S. immigration judge. However, the U.S. government placed him on a bus and sent him to Mexico instead, a move Judge Brian Murphy deemed a violation of due process.
A Deportation Filled with Fear
O.C.G. had previously testified in court about the dangers he faced in Guatemala and Mexico. He presented evidence of being raped and held for ransom in Mexico while seeking asylum in the United States. Despite these concerns, the U.S. deported him to Mexico, where he was ultimately sent back to Guatemala.
Judge Murphy expressed his outrage in his ruling, stating, “No one has ever suggested that O.C.G. poses any sort of security threat. 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.”
Government Defends its Actions
The Department of Homeland Security, through Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, defended the deportation, arguing that O.C.G. was in the country illegally and that Mexico was a “safe third option” for him while his asylum claim was pending. McLaughlin criticized Judge Murphy, calling him a “federal activist judge” and expressing confidence that a higher court would overturn the decision.
Not an Isolated Incident
This ruling is the latest in a series of legal setbacks for the Trump administration regarding its deportation policies. Recent cases have involved deportations to third countries and the erroneous deportation of El Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had lived in the U.S. for 14 years. The Supreme Court even intervened in Abrego Garcia’s case, ordering the Trump administration to bring him back to the U.S. from a Salvadoran prison.
