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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Justo Robles in Bogotá

Venezuelan deportee can return to US but fears repeat of ordeal: ‘I’m not over that nightmare yet’

a man in t-shirt, shorts and a cap sits on a bench
Luis Muñoz poses for a portrait in downtown Bogotá, Colombia, on 4 February 2026. Photograph: Nathalia Angarita/The Guardian

A US federal judge’s order that some of the Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a notorious prison in El Salvador must be allowed to return to the United States to fight their cases has been greeted with hope and a sense of vindication – but also fear – by one of the deportees.

US district judge James Boasberg ruled on Thursday in Washington DC that the Trump administration should facilitate the return of deportees who are currently in countries outside Venezuela, saying they must be given the opportunity to seek the due process they were denied after being illegally expelled from the US last March.

Boasberg added that the US government should cover the travel costs of those who wish to come to the US to argue their immigration cases.

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