Washington DC - A federal judge recently found President Donald Trump's administration in contempt of court for deporting an asylum seeker twice against court orders.
On Friday, Trump-appointed District Judge Stephanie Gallagher ordered the Trump administration to return a 19-year-old man, identified as ELA, to the US after he was recently deported to El Salvador for a second time.
The administration violated three orders against his removal dated November 2024, April 2025, and July 2026.
The judge ordered the administration to refrain from executing any more removal orders against him until officials make a final asylum determination or the settlement expires.
The case is part of a 2019 federal class-action lawsuit that seeks to protect the asylum rights of immigrants who entered the country as unaccompanied minors during Trump's first term.
In his second term, President Trump has waged an immigration agenda in which he has sent federal agents to Democrat-run cities across the nation to enact aggressive deportation sweeps.
While Trump has insisted his efforts are aimed at migrants with criminal histories, most have been found not to have records, and many have been deported without due process, sometimes to a place other than their country of origin.
In countless similar cases, judges have ruled that migrants who were found to be wrongfully deported, orders the Trump administration has gone out of its way to evade.
A recent report found that the Trump administration has wasted millions in federal dollars on its deportation agenda and its efforts to build detention centers across the country.