REPORT: Court orders yet another deported illegal alien to be returned to the USA, DHS responds

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From Politico: The Trump administration must try to bring back to the U.S. another man who was deported to El Salvador in violation of a court order, a federal appeals court ruled Tuesday.

It’s the fourth time since March that federal courts have ordered the administration to return immigrants who were deemed illegally or improperly deported.

Officials must begin seeking the return of Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, who was sent to his native country on May 7, “as soon as possible,” a three-judge panel of the New York-based 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals ruled.

Justice Department officials acknowledged last month that Melgar-Salmeron’s deportation violated an earlier directive from the 2nd Circuit. A department lawyer blamed a “confluence of administrative errors,” including missed emails and an inaccurate roster of passengers on the May 7 deportation flight. But the Department of Homeland Security contradicted that assessment in a public statement, saying there was “no error” and accusing Melgar-Salmeron of belonging to the violent MS-13 gang.

Melgar-Salmeron is currently being held in a Salvadoran prison, since he was put on a deportation flight on May 7.  About 30 minutes prior to the flight’s departure,  a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit ordered the government to keep Melgar-Salmeron in the U.S. while he pursued claims about fear of torture in his home country. But the flight left anyway.

Politico further explains:

Melgar-Salmeron, who spent years living in Virginia, had been in immigration detention since 2022 until his deportation last month. That detention followed a prison sentence for possessing an unregistered shotgun, according to court records. Though he had originally also been charged with entering the country illegally, he was allowed to plead guilty in 2021 to only the firearms charge.

After his prison sentence ended, Melgar-Salmeron was detained by immigration authorities while deportation proceedings against him were ongoing. In January 2024, the Biden administration put Melgar-Salmeron’s deportation case on hold amid broader litigation over immigration policy.

The three judges who issued the unanimous order Tuesday for Melgar-Salmeron’s return are Trump appointee Richard Sullivan and Biden appointees Alison Nathan and Maria Araujo Kahn, Politico wrote.

The Department of Homeland Security is firing back, and released the following statement:

This ruling is completely at odds with President Trump’s duty to faithfully execute federal law.

Jordin Alexander Melgar Salmeron is a serial criminal illegal alien with a final order of removal. Not only did Salmeron illegally enter the U.S. twice, but he was on the run from his home country of El Salvador where he was wanted by the authorities for homicide and criminal conspiracy.

While in our country, he was convicted of several crimes related to MS-13 gang activity and then removed by ICE on July 16, 2012. He then came back into our country and continued to engage in criminal activity. He was convicted of possession of unregistered firearm/sawed-off shotgun and sentenced to 24 months of incarceration.

This gang member’s administrative removal issued by an immigration judge was final and executable via the Board of Immigration Appeals order issued on Oct 23, 2023.

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