Judge Gallagher held the Trump administration in contempt Sept. 25 for deporting E.L.A., a 19-year-old Salvadoran asylum seeker. Officials must return him and his property and cannot remove him until his asylum status is determined or the settlement expires.
Court documents say E.L.A. was protected by an ongoing class-action settlement for certain asylum seekers who entered the country as unaccompanied minors. Gallagher found DHS violated three orders when it deported him.
The ruling follows an August contempt decision after 50 unaccompanied minors were wrongfully deported, according to Law360. Gallagher said efforts to bring some of them back were not enough to undo the initial violation.
