Trump admin must return of wrongly deported man: 4th Circuit
President Donald Trump speaks to reporters as he arrives for a meeting with the House Republican Conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.).

President Donald Trump was seen speaking to reporters when he arrived for a meeting with the House Republican Conference at the Capitol on Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington (AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.).

Lawyers representing a man deported by the Trump administration against a court order are requesting the appointment of a special master to investigate the illegal deportation.

In early May, the government acknowledged deporting Jordin Melgar-Salmeron, referring to it as a result of various administrative mistakes, which involved communication breakdown, as per previous reporting by Law&Crime.

Now, the man’s attorneys are rejecting those explanations in a letter motion filed Monday with the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.

“The Government’s actions in this case constitute no less than a grave affront to the rule of law — both for its ultimate violation of this Court’s court order and the apparently administrative perfidy which lead to that result,” the motion reads. “Mr. Melgar-Salmeron’s first priority is to have the Government correct its unlawful action by returning him to U.S. soil — and this Court should issue such an order.”

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The order of events in the case is important.

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.

“On January 2, 2024, this Court granted the Government’s request to indefinitely delay proceedings,” the motion 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 Second 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, the latest motion points out, was issued “approximately 48 hours before the Government had represented it intended to remove Mr. Melgar-Salmeron.” The man’s attorneys suggest 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 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,” U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) attorneys admitted in a filing on May 8.

The court, in response, had some questions.

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