A federal judge in the USA has order the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Guatemalan man who had applied for asylum, but was deported to Mexico.
The judge says the process used by the US government “lacked any semblance of due process”.
The man, who is referred to in court documents by his initials OCG, applied for asylum in the USA last year after he was attacked twice over his sexuality in his native Guatemala. He was protected in the USA under a judges order, but the Trump administration put him on a bus and deported him to neighbouring Mexico.
After being sent to Mexico, the man made his way back to Guatemala where he now lives in hiding. In the court documents a statement from OCG said, “I have been living in hiding, in constant panic and constant fear”.
An earlier court hearing prior to his deportation found that he had a genuine fear of living in Guatemala, but also noted he was in danger in Mexico. He had spent time in Mexico while his application was being considered and he presented evidence that he had been held for ransom and raped while seeking refuge in the USA.
District judge Brian Murphy said there was no evidence that OCG had ever posed any kind of threat to the USA, and he was critical of the procedures and process being rolled out by the Trump administration saying it gave people no time to respond to the moves being made.
Last week in another case the same judge found that the administration has violated a previous order that required them give deportees sufficient time to appeal orders of deportation. It related to a case where seven men were deported to South Sudan without being told where they were heading.
The case is one of many where the administration has been accused of unfairly deporting people. Last week US Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem told a Congressional Committee that it was not her responsibility to find out if a gay hairdresser sent to a prison in El Salvador is still alive.
Venezuelan man Andry Hernandez Romero had applied for asylum in the USA. The gay makeup artist was sent to a harsh prison in El Salvador, but supporters says he’s been wrongly identified as a gang member.
It has been suggested that Hernandez Romero Romero had tattoos that indicated an affiliation to a criminal gang, but his supporters have argued that the tattoo’s relate to a festival from his homeland and are commonplace in the region.
