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.

Gallagher did, however, agree to postpone enforcement of her requirement to return Cristian to the United States until May 8 to give the Justice Department an opportunity to file an appeal.

Her April 23 order concluded that by deporting Cristian, who entered the United States illegally as an unaccompanied minor and still has a pending asylum application, the Trump administration violated a 2024 class-action settlement that bars immigration officials from removing such individuals until their asylum claims are fully adjudicated. She ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” Cristian’s return for the asylum hearing.

The Justice Department stated in a May 5 filing that Cristian was not eligible for asylum in the United States because of his alleged gang ties, arguing that Gallagher’s order to facilitate his return was made in error. The filing cites an “indicative asylum decision” made by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), which makes “clear that, if Cristian returned, it would deny his asylum application” on grounds of terrorist-related inadmissibility, based on his alleged membership in Tren de Aragua, a designated terrorist organization.

“This action by USCIS establishes that the Court’s order directing Defendants to facilitate Cristian’s return is no longer warranted or equitable and indeed is now effectively moot,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. “Cristian is no longer a member of the class in light of USCIS’s determination of non-eligibility in its Indicative Asylum Decision and hence is no longer entitled to relief.”

The Justice Department also argued that even if Cristian were technically eligible for asylum under the 2024 class-action settlement for unaccompanied minors, there are ample grounds to deny his asylum claim on the basis of discretionary authority because of his alleged gang ties.

“Under these circumstances, ordering Defendants to facilitate the return of a foreign gang member from El Salvadoran custody—a remedy that raises constitutional concerns and is difficult if not impossible—is clearly no longer equitable nor appropriate,” the filing states. “This would be the most empty gesture, but also a very challenging one.”

Gallagher’s May 6 decision makes clear she was unpersuaded by the Justice Department’s arguments and found the “indicative asylum decision” lacking in terms of due process.

“We don’t skip to the end and say, ‘We all know how this is going to end up….’ My order requires that Cristian be returned to this country to get the process,” Gallagher wrote.

The Justice Department did not respond to a request for comment by publication time.