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Justice Department attorney Mary Larakers made the argument in a
court document filed Wednesday, suggesting that U.S. District
Judge Brian E. Murphy's order wasn't violated because the
Defense Department isn't a defendant in the lawsuit.
Murphy's order, first issued March 28, blocked the Trump
administration from deporting people who have exhausted legal
appeals to countries other than their country of origin unless
they are told of their destination and given a chance to object
if they fear they will face torture or death there.
Some countries do not accept deportations from the United
States, which has led the Trump administration to strike
agreements with other countries like Panama to house them. Some
Venezuelans subject to Trump’s Alien Enemies Act have been sent
to El Salvador and housed in its notorious main prison.
In the court filing, Larakers said four people were deported to
El Salvador on March 31 — three days after Murphy issued the
restraining order — but said that was done by the Defense
Department, and DHS officials were not on the flight and did not
direct the removals.
Two people were removed to Mexico, Larakers wrote, but one of
them was sent three days before the restraining order was issued
and the other one was sent the morning of March 28, several
hours before the order came out.
The man deported on March 28 was first asked by Immigration and
Customs Enforcement officers “if he was afraid of being returned
to Mexico. At this time, he stated he was not afraid of
returning to Mexico,” Larakers wrote.
Laraker also provided a sworn statement from DHS official Tracy
Huettl, who said each of the deportees had been convicted of
crimes in the U.S. and were ordered removed by an immigration
judge. The men who were deported after the court order were all
in ICE custody before they were transferred to a detention
center at Guantanamo Bay, where they were held until Defense
Department officials had them flown to El Salvador, Huettl
wrote.
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