A federal judge is pressing the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Venezuelan deportee whose removal from the country violated a previous court settlement.
Concretely, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, from Maryland, asked the administration to explain why it claims that diplomatic discussions with El Salvador are needed for that purpose, considering that the country's government recently said that legal custody of Venezuelan deportees fell under the U.S.'s purview.
The man in question is known by the pseudonym "Cristian." He is 20-years-old and challenged his removal after being sent to the infamous CECOT mega-prison in mid-March along with hundreds of other Venezuelans following the invoking of the wartime Alien Enemies Act. Gallagher ordered his return a month later, and an appeals court upheld the decision in May.
"Defendants have repeatedly skirted this Court's directive to provide information regarding the steps they have taken and will take to facilitate the return of Cristian to the United States," according to the judge.
"Instead, Defendants have repeatedly made oblique references to their request of 'assistance' from the U.S. Department of State (DOS), which has 'entered into negotiations to facilitate Cristian's return' and 'assumed responsibility on behalf of the U.S. Government for ... diplomatic discussions with El Salvador.'"
The development comes after the Salvadoran government filed a court with the mentioned claim in response to a United Nations inquiry. "The jurisdiction and legal responsibility for these people lie exclusively with the competent foreign authorities," the government said, referring to the United States.
Judge Gallagher said that, "assuming the Government of El Salvador provided truthful information to the UN, no 'diplomatic discussions' should be required here because El Salvador has no sovereign interest in Cristian's continued confinement in that country." It is unclear if there have been legal developments since.
Another report by The New York Times casts doubt over the Trump administration's claim. The article claims that officials were actively negotiating a prisoner swap involving those same detainees.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Special Presidential Envoy for Special Missions of United States Richard Grenell led parallel efforts to arrange a deal with Venezuela's authoritarian government, according to four people familiar with the talks. One proposal would have seen the exchange of roughly 250 Venezuelan migrants detained in El Salvador, deported there at U.S. request, for the release of 11 U.S. citizens and dozens of Venezuelan political prisoners held in Venezuela. The other offered to extend Chevron's license to operate in Venezuela.
According to the outlet, both teams negotiated with the same Venezuelan official, president of Venezuela's National Assembly Jorge Rodríguez, but the lack of coordination created confusion about who actually represented the U.S. administration. Ultimately, neither plan materialized.
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