Ordered to absolutely not deport man to Guatemala ICE does it anyway

Image: ICE agents; Copyright Lawrey / shutterstock.com

In defiance of a court order, logic, and basic human decency, ICE deported Guatemalan asylum seeker Faustino Pablo Pablo to the one place he was explicitly not allowed to be sent: Guatemala, where a judge had already found he was likely to be tortured.

You’ll notice the words “blatant lawlessness of his removal” are not in quotes. This is a judge talking directly to ICE and the government’s legal reps, telling them exactly what he thinks about their actions. This isn’t an indirect slam cribbed from precedent.

And the judge is right to be angry. As Kyle Cheney’s report for Politico notes, this is something ICE has been doing repeatedly since the beginning of Trump’s second term.

The administration has acknowledged several other improper deportations, including a man sent to El Salvador despite a court-approved settlement agreement barring his deportation while his asylum claim was pending, a man who was sent to Mexico despite immigration officials’ acknowledgment that they had no record of a “credible fear” interview to determine whether he might face persecution, a man deported to El Salvador — where he remains incarcerated — despite a federal appeals court order barring his deportation, and a transgender woman deported to Mexico despite an immigration court order finding she was likely to be tortured there.

TechDirt

Pablo Pablo had been living in the U.S. since 2012, complying with every rule ICE handed him. He even showed up for regular check-ins. His reward? A surprise detention, a one-way flight to danger, and a middle finger from the agency charged with upholding the law. A federal judge called it “blatant lawlessness.” ICE smiled.