More than 250 individuals deported from the U.S. to El Salvador arrive by plane to the country, including alleged members of Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang, and members of the MS-13 gang, to be processed in the country's CECOT maximum security prison. (El Salvador Presidency / Handout/Anadolu via Getty Images)
U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, a Trump appointee, ruled in April that his deportation violated an agreement the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) struck in 2024 with Lozano-Camargo and a group of young asylum seekers who had entered the U.S. as unaccompanied children.
Under that agreement, DHS agreed not to deport the migrants in question until their requests for asylum could be fully adjudicated in U.S. court. Last month, Gallagher said Lozano-Camargo’s deportation was a "breach of contract," since his asylum case had not yet been heard, and ordered the U.S. government to facilitate his release.
A person holds up a sign referencing the Centre for Terrorism Confinement prison in El Salvador during a May Day demonstration against President Donald Trump and his immigration policies in Houston on May 1, 2025. (RONALDO SCHEMIDT / AFP)
Gallagher emphasized in court last week that her decision has nothing to do with the strength of his asylum request, and is based solely on due process protections.
"I don’t think that this is a case about whether or not Cristian is going to eventually get asylum," she told lawyers for the Trump administration.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
"Process is important. We don’t skip to the end and say, ‘We all know how this is going to end so we’ll just skip that part,'" she said. "Whether he ultimately receives asylum is not the issue. The issue is – and has always been – one of process."
Still, Gallagher agreed to stay her ruling for 48 hours, giving the administration time to appeal it to the higher court, which it did.
Breanne Deppisch is a national politics reporter for Fox News Digital covering the Trump administration, with a focus on the Justice Department, FBI, and other national news.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/federal-judges-order-trump-return-deported-migrant-temporarily-halted-appeal