It happened again.
A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to quickly seek the return of a man it deported to Guatemala in violation of an immigration court’s finding that he was likely to face torture there.
U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama scolded the administration for the “blatant lawlessness” of its decision to deport Faustino Pablo Pablo to Guatemala, despite the man’s urgent warnings to immigration officials that he faced serious danger in his home country.
Guaderrama, an El Paso, Texas-based Obama appointee, ordered the administration to return Pablo by Dec. 12 and to provide daily updates about its efforts in the meantime. The judge noted that the administration repeatedly acknowledged the “unlawful” and “wrongful” nature of the man’s deportation and had, in recent days, suggested it would seek to bring him back to the United States.
But despite a “tentatively scheduled” flight on Thursday, the judge said, Pablo was not returned to the country and appeared to remain in Guatemala. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pablo’s situation is strikingly reminiscent of the illegal deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who the administration abruptly sent to El Salvador in March, despite an immigration judge’s 2019 order that he was likely to face persecution at the hands of a local gang. Abrego’s case drew national headlines after a judge ordered the administration to quickly facilitate his return — prompting fierce resistance from the White House and top Homeland Security officials, who denounced Abrego and excoriated judges that ruled against them.
The administration has acknowledged several other improper deportations, including a man sent to El Salvador despite a court-approved settlement agreement barring his deportation while his asylum claim was pending, a man who was sent to Mexico despite immigration officials’ acknowledgment that they had no record of a “credible fear” interview to determine whether he might face persecution, a man deported to El Salvador — where he remains incarcerated — despite a federal appeals court order barring his deportation, and a transgender woman deported to Mexico despite an immigration court order finding she was likely to be tortured there.
Pablo entered the United States illegally in 2012. Though an immigration judge ordered his removal, the judge also concluded that he would face torture “by, or with the consent or acquiescence of, the Guatemalan government.” After he was released from immigration detention in 2013, Pablo resided in California and reported regularly to immigration officials until Nov. 5, when he was abruptly detained at an immigration check-in. His attorney quickly notified immigration officials about Pablo’s protection from deportation to Guatemala, the judge indicated.
On Nov. 17, Pablo was transferred to El Paso and told he was being prepared for deportation to Guatemala. He quickly sued to secure his release from detention but was nevertheless deported on Nov. 20, before Guaderrama could intervene.
“By the time the Court ordered [the administration] not to remove Pablo Pablo, he had arrived in Guatemala City,” Guaderrama wrote.
