Guatemalan deportee arrives in US after judge orders Trump to facilitate return

BOSTON (Reuters) - A Guatemalan man who said he was deported to Mexico despite fearing he would be persecuted there was flown back to the United States on Wednesday after a judge ordered the Trump administration to facilitate his return, his lawyer said.

U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston on May 23 ordered the man's return after the Justice Department notified him that its claim that the man had expressly stated he was not afraid of being sent to Mexico was based on erroneous information.

That ruling had marked the latest instance of a judge ordering President Donald Trump's administration to facilitate the return of a migrant swept up in the Republican's efforts to carry out mass deportations as part of his hardline immigration agenda, following a mistake in an individual's case.

The government likewise made an error 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.

By contrast, the Guatemalan man, identified in court papers only as O.C.G., was able to return on Wednesday on a commercial flight, said Trina Realmuto, a National Immigration Litigation Alliance lawyer who represents him. Unlike Garcia, O.C.G. was not being detained abroad.

"He made contact with us while waiting to go through immigration," Realmuto said. "We expect he will be taken into custody now."



(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Chang)