President Donald Trump attends a meeting with the Fraternal Order of Police in the State Dinning Room of the White House, Thursday, June 5, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Alex Brandon).
Another man who the Trump administration admittedly deported in violation of a court order must now be returned to the United States, a New York City-based appeals court ruled Tuesday.
Attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice admitted to deporting Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, a Salvadoran immigrant, in early May, citing “a confluence of administrative errors,” including a breakdown in communications, Law&Crime previously reported.
Somewhat aberrational, the case has been before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals for roughly two years – having exhausted relevant lower court proceedings for quite some time. All of the latest action has been on a docket before the same panel since April.
Now, that panel is ordering the government to bring the man back to the country so that his longstanding case can revert to the status quo.
“Accordingly, upon due consideration, the Government is hereby ordered to facilitate the return of Petitioner to the United States as soon as possible to “ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,'” the two-page order reads.
The appellate court cites, as controlling authority, the U.S. Supreme Court ruling which directed the government to return Maryland father Kilmar Abrego GarcÃa back to the country after he was sent to a notorious El Salvador prison in violation of multiple court orders.
The present case, the appeals court reasoned, is similar enough in that Melgar-Salmeron was also sent to El Salvador on a deportation flight – though only in violation of just one court order.
But the court also notes that it was, in effect, lied to.
“As the Government recognizes in its filings, the removal was improper because it contradicted the Government’s assurance to the Court that it would forbear from removing Petitioner, which this Court relied upon in resolving the stay motion,” the order continues. “It was also improper because it violated this Court’s order staying Petitioner’s removal from the United States during the pendency of this matter before this Court.”
The order of events in the case is paramount.
The underlying litigation dates back to late 2023, when Melgar-Salmeron filed a petition for review and a stay of removal. The government, for its part, filed a motion for the case to be held in abeyance, asking to pause all proceedings while other, similar cases made their way through the court system – in an effort to obtain some kind of general clarity for a group of immigrants with similar pending issues. Melgar-Salmeron was happy enough to let it linger.
“On January 2, 2024, this Court granted the Government’s request to indefinitely delay proceedings,” a letter motion filed by Melgar-Salmeron’s attorneys earlier this month explains. “Presumably as a direct result of the abeyance order (which again, had been granted at the Government’s request), this Court took no further action in the case until 2025.”
Then, in April, the government changed its mind, informing the court it intended to deport Melgar-Salmeron sometime after May 8, unless “the Court has not issued an order granting a stay.”
On May 2, the man’s attorneys filed a letter asking to resuscitate the long-dormant stay motion. The 2nd Circuit issued the requested stay at 9:52 a.m. on May 7, instructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that deportation was off the table.
This court order was issued “approximately 48 hours before the Government had represented it intended to remove Mr. Melgar-Salmeron,” according to the early June Melgar-Salmeron motion. The man’s attorneys argued the government was not caught off guard by the ruling.
“As the Government’s papers and supporting declarations make clear, this stay order was (1) issued and (2) distributed to ICE — all while Mr. Melgar-Salmeron remained on U.S. soil, in the physical custody of ICE,” the early June motion reads. “But the Government deported him anyway.”
Despite the court’s order and the earlier timeline the Trump administration supplied to the judges, Melgar-Salmeron was deported to El Salvador “at some point in the morning of May 7, 2025,” DOJ attorneys admitted in a filing on May 8.
Several rounds of inquiry – asked by the court; answered by Melgar-Salmeron’s legal team and by DOJ attorneys – have since followed.
Now, the court has evidently heard enough.
But, the court is not ending the case. Again, echoing the Abrego Garcia controversy, the panel wants the government to file progress reports on what it is doing to return the man.
“The Court further directs the Government to file, within one week of this Order, a supplemental declaration from an individual with personal knowledge, addressing the following: (1) the current physical location and custodial status of Petitioner; and (2) what steps the Government will take, and when, to facilitate his return to the United States,” the order goes on. “Petitioner may file any response within three days of the Government’s filing.”
The ruling is not, however, an unalloyed win for Melgar-Salmeron.
The deported man’s attorneys, using exceedingly strong language, accused the Trump administration of being deceitful and untrustworthy, as Law&Crime previously reported. In turn, they requested a special master to investigate the “unlawful” removal.
The court nixed that secondary request.
“In light of the detailed affirmations and information provided to this Court, we conclude that counsel for the Government who made the forbearance assurance to this Court took reasonable and diligent steps to ensure removal would not occur in violation of that assurance or the eventual stay of removal,” the panel found. “Given the steps taken by Government counsel, we conclude that further proceedings pursuant to [the special masters rules] are not warranted at this time.”
