Reversal order by another federal judge adds to Trump admin’s war with judiciary

Another federal judge ordered a deportation reversal as a Biden-era deal with so-called asylum seekers was given precedent over national security.

As sympathies have all but worn out for alleged human trafficker Kilmar Abrego Garcia amid Democrat lawmakers’ taxpayer-funded goodwill tour, corporate media has a new, reportedly gang-tied foreign national to fawn over. During a Tuesday hearing, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ordered the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan national as she asserted President Donald Trump’s administration had tried to “skip to the end” with his deportation.

Referred to as “Cristian” by the court and identified by Politico as one Daniel Lozano-Camargo, Gallagher followed a previous ruling that found the Venezuelan’s deportation to the El Salvador prison CECOT in March a violation of a settlement by asserting the federal government had violated due process.

“I don’t think this is a case about whether or not Cristian is going to eventually get asylum,” the judge who’d been appointed by Trump after her original nomination under former President Barack Obama had expired said during the hearing. “Whether he ultimately receives asylum is not the issue. The issue is, and has always been, one of process.”

Gallagher challenged the “indicative ruling” from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, explaining why asylum would be denied, contending it was like a court refusing to hold a trial because a suspect confessed or had been caught “red-handed.”

“It’s not a substitute for the process that was due. Process is important,” she asserted. “We don’t skip to the end and say, ‘We all know how this is going to end up.’”

As part of the government’s defense for sending Lozano-Camargo to El Salvador, it was argued that the class-action agreement under President Joe Biden’s administration, staying deportations until after asylum claims were adjudicated, was moot with regard to the use of the Alien Enemies Act as the alien had been arrested and convicted of cocaine possession in Houston, Texas this year.

In April, Gallagher ruled that the government was ordered to “facilitate Class Member Cristian’s return to the United States to await the adjudication of his asylum application on the merits by USCIS under the terms of the Settlement Agreement. Facilitation includes, but is not limited to, a good faith request by Defendants to the government of El Salvador to release Cristian to U.S. custody for transport back to the United States.”

The judge provided the government 48 hours to bring an appeal before the Fourth Circuit Court. However, if the case was not taken by the higher court, Gallagher detailed that she would amend her ruling to set the timeline by which officials were expected to comply with the return of Lozano-Camargo.

“There is some urgency here,” she argued. “We have a 20-year-old young man who’s been in prison in El Salvador for almost two months.”

Staff Writer

Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn’t researching current events and their impacts, you’ll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.

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