Federal Judge Upholds Order to Return Deported Venezuelan Migrant
A federal judge in Baltimore has refused to alter her ruling that requires the Trump administration to return a deported Venezuelan asylum seeker to the U.S., emphasizing due process.
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, appointed by President Trump, upheld her order demanding the return of 20-year-old Daniel Lozano-Camargo to the United States after he was deported to El Salvador. The decision came despite the government’s request to amend the earlier ruling, which Gallagher denied during a hearing on Tuesday. However, she granted a 48-hour pause on her ruling, allowing the government time to appeal to the 4th Circuit.
Lozano-Camargo, who was referred to as ‘Cristian’ in earlier court documents, was deported in March under the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act. Gallagher’s April ruling found that Lozano-Camargo’s deportation violated a 2024 settlement between the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and a group of young asylum seekers, including him. The settlement stipulated that such migrants, who entered the U.S. as unaccompanied minors, should not be deported until their cases were adjudicated.
During the hearing, Gallagher clarified that her decision was not influenced by the strength of Lozano-Camargo’s asylum claim, despite his previous low-level drug offenses and a recent conviction. Instead, she stressed the importance of due process, stating that the settlement agreement required him to be present in the U.S. for his hearing. She criticized the government’s approach, suggesting they were using the ‘wrong yardstick’ by focusing on potential outcomes rather than the process itself.
The Trump administration argued that Lozano-Camargo’s arrest and conviction for cocaine possession in Houston earlier this year made him eligible for removal under the Alien Enemies Act, effectively removing him from the class protected by the settlement. However, Gallagher remained firm on the issue of due process, indicating that skipping the legal process to assume an outcome is not acceptable under U.S. law.
The administration has until Thursday afternoon to appeal to the 4th Circuit. This case continues to highlight the ongoing tensions between immigration enforcement policies and legal protections for asylum seekers.