The US Court of Appeals will review the Trump administration’s bid to prevent the return of a 20-year-old Venezuelan asylum seeker who was deported to El Salvador earlier this year, and will keep him in Salvador’s custody for now.
The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals agreed last week to undertake Trump’s appeal. Until May 15th, the Trump administration remained in a lower court ruling requiring him to return him to US soil soon.
The Court of Appeals also ordered the plaintiffs in the case to file their responses with the court by noon Monday. The Trump administration will need to respond until 9am Tuesday.
In question is the case of Daniel Lozano Camargo, a 20-year-old Venezuelan national who was previously known as “Christian” in court documents, who was deported to El Salvador in March in an early wave of Trump administration’s alien enemy law.
The federal judge’s orders the return of exiled immigrants to us and rejects Trump’s request.
More than 250 individuals deported from the US to El Salvador arrive by plane, including members of the Tren de Aragua gang in Venezuela and members of the MS-13 gang, and are processed at the country’s largest security prison. (President El Salvador / Handouts /Anadoru via Getty Images)
US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, Trump’s appointee, ruled that in April the deportation violated an agreement the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) attacked with Lozano Camargo and a group of young asylum seekers who entered the United States as non-accompanied people.
Under that agreement, the DHS agreed not to deport the immigrants in question until the asylum request has been fully awarded in US court. Last month, Gallagher said he ordered the US government to promote his release as Lozano Camargo’s deportation was a “breach of contract” and his asylum case has not yet been heard.
A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to promote the return of migrants deported to El Salvador. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
She repeated that decision last week in court, refusing to a new filing from the Justice Department, which she said she had determined that Lozano Camargo was eligible for removal under the law, citing his previous arrest and conviction for possession of cocaine in Houston this year.
Justice Department officials in previous court documents claimed that Lozano Camargo is a member of the “gang of violent terrorists” but did not link him to Tren de Aragua. Some of their latest court filings have been edited.
Gallagher had ordered the Trump administration to “liberate Christian” with “the honest demands of the Salvadoran government.” [or Lozano-Camargo]returned to the United States for US custody and awaited his asylum application ruling on USCIS merit.
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Those referring to El Salvador’s Terrorist Confinement Prison Center during May Day demonstrations against President Donald Trump and his immigration policy in Houston on May 1, 2025 are referenced on May 1, 2025.
Gallagher stressed last week in court that her decision was unrelated to the strength of his asylum demands and was based solely on legitimate process protection.
“I don’t think this is an example of whether Christian will eventually go into asylum,” she told a Trump administration lawyer.
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“The process is important. Skip to the end and ‘I just know how this ends, so I just skip that part,” she said. “It doesn’t matter if he’ll ultimately receive the asylum. The question is one of the processes and it’s always been.”
Still, Gallagher agreed to maintain her sentence for 48 hours, giving the administration time to appeal it to the Superior Court.
Breanne Deppisch is a national political reporter for Fox News Digital, covering the Trump administration, focusing on the Department of Justice, the FBI and other national news.
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