A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Nicaraguan immigrant who was deported to the Central African Republic.
Kenis Lopez Gonzalez, who had been living in Minnesota since 2022 with a work permit, was detained by federal immigration agents in January during Operation Metro Surge, a large-scale federal immigration crackdown undertaken as part of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
After being detained for eight months, Lopez Gonzalez was placed on a bus with dozens of other immigrants and told he was going to be deported to the Central African Republic, according to court documents. He alleges in court filings that officers shot him with rubber bullets before placing him on a plane in restraints.
Lopez Gonzalez had previously been granted protection from deportation to Nicaragua due to the risk of torture, according to his attorney. He was deported to the Central African Republic without an opportunity to challenge his removal to that country.
“Lopez was struck by projectiles several times and developed welts on his legs, chest, and arms,” his attorneys said in court documents. “Eventually, the detainees, who were still wearing restraints, were forced off the bus and onto an airplane.”
Lopez Gonzalez has been in Africa since August, along with dozens of Latin American immigrants deported by the Trump administration.
“I’m very scared,” Lopez Gonzalez said in Spanish during a press call on Friday.
On Oct. 30, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Bryan ordered Lopez Gonzalez to be returned, finding that “the threat of irreparable harm to Lopez of remaining in the Central African Republic while his claims are pending is self-evident and was known to Defendants well before they ever forced Lopez (with quickly developing bruises and welts) onto a flight to the Central African Republic.”
“Defendants relocated Lopez to an unstable country that they affirmatively knew to have corrupt and ineffective law enforcement and where residents are at the mercy of armed criminal groups,” Judge Bryan wrote. “Lopez has no legal status in the Central African Republic and no means by which to provide for himself.”
On Friday, Lopez Gonzalez’s attorney said the government has so far complied with court deadlines to submit paperwork.
“If they drag their feet, if they slow-walk it, we’ll be right back in front of the judge, asking the judge to light a fire under them,” said attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg.
Sandoval-Moshenberg — who also represents Kilmar Abrego Garcia — said the government has the legal authority to deport his client to a third country, but that he’s entitled to a “reasonable fear interview” and a hearing before an immigration judge.
“He’s entitled to a trial in front of an immigration judge, and that’s all he’s asking,” Sandoval-Moshenberg said. “And of course, it goes without saying that the trial is supposed to be done before they forcibly put him on a plane, not after the plane lands and kicks him off in Central Africa.”
Lopez Gonzalez said on Friday that he’s been sick with malaria for five days and has witnessed violence due to the political conflicts in the Central African Republic.
“It’s very difficult … all the violations of due process that each one of us has gone through,” he said.
ABC News was previously told by a group of Latin American immigrants who were deported to the Central African Republic that they were dismayed the U.S. government would send them to a place that it warns its own citizens against visiting. A Department of State travel advisory warns Americans not to travel there due to risks of unrest, crime, kidnapping, landmines, health issues, and terrorism.
One of the men interviewed by ABC was ordered returned by a federal judge in Colorado in September. He is still in the Central African Republic.
A spokesperson for DHS said Judge Bryan’s order is an “example of an activist judge trying to thwart President Trump’s agenda to remove illegal aliens who have no right to be in this country.”
“This Biden-appointed judge is openly defying the Supreme Court by ordering this illegal alien’s return despite him having already received a final order of removal from a judge and due process,” the spokesperson said. “This illegal alien should have never been released into our country by the Biden administration.”
The Immigration and Nationality Act allows the Department of Homeland Security to deport migrants to third countries when authorities establish that the individuals could face persecution in their country of origin or if that country cannot accept them.
According to immigration lawyers and advocates, third-country removals are rare, though not new. In recent months, the Trump administration has expanded third-country deportations following formal agreements with nearly three dozen nations to deport asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants with criminal records with little to no notice.
Some of the new destinations include Liberia, Ghana, the Central African Republic, and Sierra Leone.
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