A New York federal appeals court on Tuesday ordered the return of an immigrant it ruled the Trump administration wrongly deported, the fourth such case since January.
The court ruled 31-year-old Jordin Alexander Melgar-Salmeron should be returned “as soon as possible.” Melgar-Salmeron, who was in the country illegally but has lived and worked in Virginia for the last five years, was deported to El Salvador on May 7, just 30 minutes after a court had barred his removal until his case was determined.
Last month, Justice Department officials said Melgar-Salmeron’s deportation was the result of a “perfect storm of errors,” including an inaccurate roster of passengers on the May 7 deportation flight.
The Department of Homeland Security, however, argues Melgar-Salmeron is a member of the MS-13 gang and his deportation was not an error. His lawyers admitted in court that he had previously been affiliated with the organization and served two years in prison on federal gun charges — though they argued that he disavowed the street gang and had been living in Virginia with his wife and four children, according to The New York Times.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, another passenger on the May 7 flight to El Salvador, was also the subject of a drawn-out legal drama after the Supreme Court ruled that the administration must “facilitate” his return.
Abrego Garcia spent a little over a month in El Salvador’s mega-prison while his case bounced around federal and appeals courts. He was visited by several Democratic lawmakers who petitioned for his release and was returned to the U.S. earlier this month.
Upon his arrival, he was charged with federal charges of conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal immigrants for financial gain and unlawful transportation of illegal immigrants for monetary gain. He pleaded not guilty and is seeking fines from the Trump administration in a separate civil case.
In early May, Republican lawmakers told NOTUS these “hiccups” in Trump’s immigration agenda are exactly that: expected, acceptable mistakes.
“If you’re doing something, you’re going to have errors,” Rep. Eric Burlison told NOTUS. “They could certainly have no errors if they avoid doing this. But the truth is, they’ve got to do it, and they’ve got to do it for the country, and the way in which they handle any kind of hiccups is up to them moving forward.”
Tuesday’s ruling came just 24 hours after the Supreme Court handed a big win to the administration as it carries out its immigration crackdown. The high court ruled in a ruling split down ideological lines that deportations to third-party countries can resume, temporarily lifting a federal judge’s decision from late March that halted a new Trump-era program that sought to send migrants to countries where they had no ties.
The Supreme Court didn’t explain its reasoning for Monday’s decision.
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Amelia Benavides-Colón is a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.