A Trump-appointed federal judge in Maryland found the Trump administration in contempt on Friday over the removal of a young asylum seeker, identified as ELA, to El Salvador despite court orders protecting him from deportation. In the case involving Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), ELA's lawyers say the government sent him there twice in six months.
The news came after a November 2024 agreement protecting a class of immigrants from removal while US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) dealt with their pending asylum claims. The US District Court for the District of Maryland recorded that agreement in an order. ELA's initials are used to protect his identity and sensitive personal information while he seeks asylum from El Salvador.
ICE Removal Leads to Contempt Finding
US District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, appointed by Donald Trump during his first term, found the defendants in contempt of orders dated 25 November 2024, 23 April 2025 and 29 July 2026. Her two-page order was accompanied by a sealed memorandum opinion, so the court's full reasoning is not public.
'Defendants are hereby found to be in contempt of this Court's November 25, 2024, April 23, 2025, and July 29, 2026, orders as a result of their removal of E.L.A. to El Salvador in violation of this Court's orders,' Gallagher wrote.
ELA's lawyers set out the sequence behind the finding in their filings. They said the government removed him in March 2026, returned him to the United States in August after advocacy by class counsel, then removed him again on 1 September. The order confirms contempt over his removal, although Gallagher's detailed reasoning remains sealed.
Asylum Protections at Centre of ICE Case
ELA was a member of the protected class, his lawyers said. They also argued that he had been a minor at the time of his first removal and had later received humanitarian parole. According to their motion, 10 months of that parole remained when he was removed again.
His lawyers said he planned to pursue an asylum decision on the merits and attend his interview. 'Had this not been his intention, he would have not returned to the United States,' they wrote. They also said the government had given neither the court nor his lawyers legal grounds for his detention, and pointed to no pending removal proceedings or final, unexecuted removal order.
The case docket contained 715 entries at the time of the latest order. Earlier in the litigation, ICE agents placed several men on an aircraft carrying about 250 others to El Salvador's Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, despite the original injunction. That episode forms part of the dispute's history, though the latest contempt order concerns ELA.
Court Orders Return After ICE Removal
ELA's lawyers said he was left in El Salvador without his belongings, money, phone or a change of clothes, wearing a detention jumpsuit. Those details are allegations in their motion. The public order does not set out the court's findings on his circumstances after removal.
Gallagher ordered the administration to return ELA to the United States and to refrain from executing any final removal order against him until USCIS makes a final determination on one properly filed asylum application or the settlement agreement expires. She also ordered officials to return the property and documents taken from him at the time of his removal.
