Court orders White House return Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, who was deported less than 30 minutes after his removal was barred
An appeals court has ordered the Trump administration to return a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador to the US and to explain how it is complying in a ruling apparently designed to break a pattern of apparent government defiance of judicial orders.
The US court of appeals for the second circuit in New York also required the government to provide a declaration of the current whereabouts and custodial status of Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, who was deported on 7 May less than half an hour after the court had expressly barred his removal.
Tuesday’s order seemed intended to forestall a repeat of the long saga surrounding the case of Kilmar Ábrego García, who was deported to his native El Salvador in March, in violation of a 2019 immigration court order preventing his repatriation there on grounds of possible persecution.
Ábrego García remained in custody in El Salvador’s sprawling Cecot terrorism confinement facility for weeks while administration officials claimed they were unable to comply with a court order to facilitate his return. He was eventually returned to the US this month after the government secured a federal indictment accusing him of being a co-conspirator in a people smuggling ring.
