Judge Rejects Trump Admin’s Bid to Block Return of Deported Alleged Venezuelan Gang Member

The Justice Department says the man’s links to the Tren de Aragua gang make him a national security threat and guarantee he would be quickly deported again.

Prisoners stand outside a cell block at the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT) in Tecoluca, El Salvador, on April 4, 2025. Alex Peña/Getty Images

A federal judge has denied the Trump administration’s bid to undo an order mandating the return of a Venezuelan man deported to El Salvador, saying that the man’s removal violated a court settlement protecting unaccompanied minors with pending asylum claims from deportation.

The decision, issued on May 6 by U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher in Maryland, rejects the Justice Department’s request to vacate her previous April 23 order requiring the return of the man—identified in court filings as “Cristian”—who was deported in March to a high-security El Salvador prison under a Trump directive invoking the wartime Alien Enemies Act.