Federal judge orders return of second deported illegal migrant under Alien Enemies Act

A second federal judge has ordered the return of a deported illegal migrant on Wednesday, who was sent to El Salvador under the war-time Alien Enemies Act. 

The first case of a judge instructing the Trump administration to return an illegal migrant centers around Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who the administration alleges is part of the violent MS-13 gang. 

U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ruled this week that the Trump administration violated a settlement agreement that the Biden administration's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) reached last year. 

The violation occurred when the new DHS deported a 20-year-old man last month referred to in court documents as "Cristian," who had come into the United States illegally as an unaccompanied minor, but applied to stay through asylum. The previous department agreed not to deport Cristian, or anyone in his group, while his asylum claim is processed.

Gallagher ruled that the government breached the agreement by deporting the 20-year-old and ordered the department to orchestrate his return, according to Fox News. 

"Therefore, under the plain terms of the Settlement Agreement and fundamental tenets of contract law, removal from the United States of a Class Member, including but not limited to Cristian, without a final determination on the merits by USCIS on the Class Member’s pending asylum application violates the Settlement Agreement," Gallagher said.

The Trump administration said it deported Cristian under the act because he was convicted of cocaine possession earlier this year. 

Gallagher also issued a protective temporary restraining order for another migrant referred to as "Javier," an 18-year-old whom defense lawyers claimed was in "imminent danger" of being deported.

Misty Severi is a news reporter for Just The News. You can follow her on X for more coverage.