The Department of Homeland Security is rushing to fulfill President Trump's mass deportation goals, and its haste has led to high-profile deportation screwups.
Why it matters: The high-visibility enforcement campaign has drawn attention to every tactic from Trump's immigration enforcers, including when they're on the wrong side of the law and public opinion.
The big picture: As of late January, DHS said it had deported 675,000 undocumented immigrants.
- But from the earliest weeks of Trump 2.0, the administration has been challenged in the courts.
- It has dealt with backlash for ignoring judicial orders and had to apologize for some wrongful deportations, although some of those deported are still fighting to return.
- It has even faced ridicule after allowing a high-profile criminal suspect to avoid trial in the U.S. by asking for deportation.
Below are five high-profile deportations that have gone awry.
1. The suspected jewelry thief
A man charged in the "largest jewelry heist in U.S. history" was deported before his trial. Much of the jewelry has not been found, according to the Los Angeles Times.
- An attorney for Jeson Nelon Presilla Flores, who was deported to Ecuador in December, argued that the case should be dismissed with prejudice so it can't be refiled. The judge is still determining how to dismiss the case and whether it can be refiled if Flores ever returns to the U.S.
- DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said that Flores was a legal permanent resident but had his status revoked because of his criminal record.
- "It's just beyond me how they would deport him without the prosecutors... being in on the conversation," former federal prosecutor Laurie Levenson told The Guardian.
2. The college student wrongfully deported over Thanksgiving
Babson College student Any Lucia Lopez Belloza, 19, planned a surprise visit home from Boston to Texas over Thanksgiving break. But after being detained at the airport, she was deported back to Honduras roughly 48 hours later.
- Belloza had a final order of removal but didn't know it. A judge ordered her not to be deported or moved out of state. But she was sent to Texas before the judge's order was seen and then deported.
- "I want to sincerely apologize," Assistant US Attorney Mark Sauter said in Boston federal court, according to the Boston Globe. "The government regrets that violation and acknowledges that violation."
- But the U.S. government is refusing to allow her to return, saying in early February she is still subject to the removal order and is ineligible for a student visa. "This illegal alien entered the country in 2014 and an immigration judge issued her a final order of removal in 2015. She was removed to Honduras. She received full due process," McLaughlin said.
3. The first deportee DHS had to bring back
- A Guatemalan man wrongly deported to Mexico was returned to the U.S. in June after a judicial order.
- Known by his initials O.C.G. in court records, his attorneys argued that the man shouldn't have been sent to Mexico because he'd been held for ransom and raped there. They successfully won a withholding agreement because O.C.G. also feared return to his native Guatemala.
- But he was deported to Mexico, whose government sent him back to Guatemala. There he went into hiding, according to his lawyers, before he was returned to the U.S.
4. The long saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia
Kilmar Abrego Garcia's lawyers are fighting for their client to be deported to Costa Rica. The U.S. government is fighting to stop his removal, insisting he be sent to one of several African countries instead.
- Garcia was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March and sent to the notorious prison CECOT. He was sent back to the U.S. in June and then charged with human trafficking, only to be released on a judge's order in December.
- Garcia's team were able to secure refugee status for him since August in Costa Rica. Garcia lost his asylum case in 2019 but has a withholding order not to be returned to his native El Salvador.
- His case is no longer unique, his lawyer Simon Sandoval-Moshenber told NPR. "There have been countless illegal deportation cases since then. If anything, the problem is getting worse and not better."
5. The hairdresser labeled as a dangerous gang member
Using the Alien Enemies Act, hair dresser and asylum seeker Andry Romero was expeditiously deported to El Salvador's CECOT prison. He'd used the Biden-era CBP One app to secure a credible fear interview, and was detained while trying to move through the legal immigration system.
- The Trump administration alleged that Romero was a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, in part because of his tattoos. His family and friends told CNN that he was suspected of being a gang member as soon as he made his asylum claim, but was providing evidence to the contrary in his case.
- Romero ended up back in Venezuela. But a federal judge recently ordered that Venezuelan men deported to CECOT, who aren't in Venezuela, be returned to the U.S. to continue their legal fights against their removals.
- McLaughlin did not respond directly to Romero's case but said the administration was keeping Americans safe from gang members.
