Lawyers seek to force Trump to return Guatemalan deportee

By Nate Raymond

Lawyers for a Guatemalan man who says he was deported to Mexico despite his fears he would be persecuted there have asked a judge to order the Trump administration to facilitate his return immediately after officials acknowledged making a mistake in his case.

The attorneys made the request on Sunday after the Justice Department notified a federal judge in Boston that its claim that the man had expressly stated he was not afraid of being sent to Mexico was based on erroneous information.

The Justice Department in a filing on Friday said that upon further investigation, officials had been unable to identify any officer with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement who actually asked the man about fears he had for his safety.

Lawyers for the man, identified in court papers only as "O.C.G.," told U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy that despite admitting to that error, the administration is refusing to commit to allowing the man to return to the U.S. immediately.

They urged the judge to order the government to do so, given that Murphy, in a class action lawsuit O.C.G. and other migrants filed, has already blocked the administration from swiftly deporting migrants to countries other than their own without first hearing their concerns about their safety.

Lawyers for O.C.G. say that once he was in Mexico, O.C.G. had to choose between waiting months in detention to apply for asylum in Mexico or returning to Guatemala. He ultimately opted to go back to Guatemala, where he is in hiding, his lawyers say.

"Defendants' admitted failure to provide O.C.G. even an oral opportunity to assert his fear is flatly contrary to their own repeated representations to the Supreme Court regarding what due process requires in a situation like this," the lawyers wrote.

In an order on Monday, Murphy, an appointee of President Donald Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, said he would consider the matter during a hearing on Wednesday.

An official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, in a statement said the issues in O.C.G.'s case amounted to a "misunderstanding that was promptly fixed," adding he "had reasonable opportunity to raise a fear claim."

It is the latest instance of the government acknowledging an error in the case of a migrant swept up in Trump's efforts to rapidly carry out mass deportations as part of his hardline immigration agenda.

Such an error occurred with Maryland resident Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was deported to El Salvador in March despite an order protecting him from removal. He remains there, despite a judge ordering the administration to facilitate his return.

According to his lawyers, O.C.G. is a gay man who fled Guatemala in 2024 after facing death threats based on his sexuality. He entered the United States through Mexico in May 2024.

An immigration judge in February granted him protection from being deported to Guatemala after an asylum officer found he had a reasonable fear of persecution there. Yet immigration officials then swiftly deported him to Mexico instead.

His lawyers say immigration officials sent O.C.G. to Mexico without giving him an opportunity to express his fear of being sent there, where he likewise feared persecution after previously being kidnapped and raped by individuals in Mexico.