The Trump administration acted with “blatant lawlessness” when it deported a man to Guatemala from El Paso despite a court order prohibiting such action, U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama said in an order Friday compelling the government to return him to the United States.
Guaderrama ordered the man, Faustino Pablo Pablo, returned from Guatemala to the United States by Dec. 12. He also ordered the government to provide him with daily updates.
At a hearing Wednesday, the government “conceded that Pablo Pablo ‘was subject to withholding of removal to Guatemala at the time he was removed, and therefore the physical removal was unlawful,’” Guaderrama’s order said.
Lawyers for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas told Guaderrama at the Wednesday hearing that Pablo was “tentatively scheduled” to be returned to the United States the next day, but said later Wednesday that that wouldn’t happen.
“As far as the Court is aware, Pablo Pablo currently remains in Guatemala,” Guaderrama said in his Friday order, which was first reported by Politico.
Much of the federal court record regarding Pablo’s case is not available to the public because it began as a habeas corpus requests. Those requests generally aren’t public records.
But in his order, Guaderrama said Pablo fled violence in Guatemala in 2012 and sought asylum in the United States.
An immigration judge found that Pablo was removable from the United States, but “found that Pablo Pablo had ‘shown it is more likely than not that he will be tortured by, or with the consent or acquiescence of, the Guatemalan government’ and granted his application for withholding of removal under the Convention Against Torture.”
The immigration judge’s ruling barred Pablo’s deportation to Guatemala, but does allow him to be deported to another country that would accept him. Such third-party deportations have been rare in recent decades, though the Trump administration has increased their use this year.
Pablo was released by Immigration and Customs Enforcement in 2013 under an order of supervision that required him to regularly check in with ICE. He complied with that requirement and has been living in California for more than a decade, Guaderrama wrote.
Pablo was detained Nov. 5 at a regular check-in “without notice or explanation,” the judge said. His attorney promptly contacted ICE to remind them of the immigration judge’s order prohibiting his deportation to Guatemala.
On Nov. 17, Pablo was sent to ICE’s Camp East Montana at Fort Bliss “for staging of removal to Guatemala,” Guaderrama wrote.
His lawyer, Jennifer Scarborough of Minneapolis, filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus the next day, seeking to have the government produce her client. She filed a motion for a preliminary injunction Nov. 20 to bar the government from moving him outside the Western District of Texas until Guaderrama could hear the habeas corpus motion.
“The same day, at 5:00 a.m.MST, ICE transported Pablo Pablo to the (El Paso) airport. At 6:00 a.m, ICE placed him on a flight direct to Guatemala. By the time the court ordered respondents not to remove Pablo Pablo, he had arrived in Guatemala City,” Guaderrama wrote in his order.
The government told Guaderrama he “lacks jurisdiction in the habeas framework” to order Pablo’s return to the United States, but “independently committed to facilitate his return.”
Guaderrama’s ruling said he has jurisdiction over Pablo’s request, “which has shifted from challenging his detention to challenging the blatant lawlessness of his removal.”
The Trump administration has acknowledged deporting several people to their home countries despite court orders barring such actions. The most prominent was Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was deported to El Salvador in March and later returned to the United States despite fierce opposition by the Trump administration.
The Department of Homeland Security is seeking to deport Abrego to Liberia, alleging he is a gang member, a charge Abrego has denied.
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