A federal judge has ordered President Donald Trump to return a gay deportee who says he lives in fear of persecution for his identity outside of the U.S.
The Trump administration had shipped the man, a citizen of Guatemala, to Mexico—a place where he says he has previously been held for ransom and raped, even after he shared his concern about facing further violence there.
Judge Brian Murphy, in a Friday ruling, demanded that the Trump administration facilitate the man’s return, writing that it’s likely that the deportation “lacked any semblance of due process.”
The Justice Department did not immediately return the Daily Beast’s request for comment.
O.C.G., as the man is identified in court documents, said in a sworn declaration that he sought asylum in the U.S. in March 2024 to escape “persecution and torture” but was denied an interview and sent back to Guatemala.
He embarked on another attempt to obtain asylum the following month. However, O.C.G. says that he was captured by a group of men in Mexico while on his way to the U.S. They held him in a room for days and raped him, he claimed, adding that he was released only when his sister sent them money as ransom.
O.C.G. reentered the U.S. and secured a series of immigration hearings to determine his fate. He says that in February of this year a judge ruled that he would not be deported due to his fears about persecution.
“I was so relieved that I was finally going to be able to stay somewhere safe,” he said.
However, O.C.G. says that he was deported anyway in February by the Trump administration—first to Mexico, the country where he had faced violence. He “begged” to call his lawyer but was told it was “too late.”
O.C.G. says he subsequently was given the option to be released to Guatemala, which he took out of fear of remaining in Mexico.
But in his home country, he said he also lives in a state of “constant fear and panic.”
“I can’t be gay here, which means I cannot be myself,” O.C.G. claimed in his deposition. “I cannot express myself and I am not free… Anything could happen to me in the street.”
O.C.G. said he has been hiding out in a house owned by his sister. “When I leave, I wear hats and try to camouflage myself so that no one recognizes me and sees that I have returned,” he explained. “But living a normal life is impossible here, and I live in fear because of the past hateful incidences I experienced.”
Judge Murphy ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” O.C.G.’s return so that he can make his case for remaining in the U.S.
The Trump administration has faced other court orders to return men deported in pursuit of fulfilling the president’s campaign promise to rid the country of undocumented immigrants.
Most prominent was the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a deported Maryland man whom the government ‘accidentally’ shipped to a megaprison in El Salvador.
Despite being ordered to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, the government has ignored the order, arguing that it is unable to bring him back because he is in Salvadoran custody.
Judge Murphy stressed the difference between O.C.G.’s situation and Abrego Garcia’s. The word “facilitate,” the judge wrote, “should carry less baggage” for O.C.G.’s return because he is not being held by another country’s government.
Murphy, who was appointed by former President Joe Biden, also criticized the government for revealing O.C.G.’s full name in a public filing, which he wrote “exacerbated” the risks he faces.
It remains unclear whether the Trump administration, which earlier this month declared Murphy a “far-left activist judge,” will follow the order.
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