United States: In an unprecedented legal about-face, a Guatemalan national—known in court papers as OCG—was re-admitted into the United States this week, marking a historic moment where the Trump administration, under strict judicial compulsion, reversed a wrongful deportation.

The individual, mistakenly expelled and sent first to Mexico, was brought back on Wednesday after his legal counsel successfully argued the illegality of his removal. This marks the maiden instance in which Trump-era officials have reinstated a deportee’s presence following judicial intervention.

Federal Judge Brian Murphy, ruling last month, delivered a searing rebuke of the deportation process. In his directive, Murphy ordered US authorities to act “immediately and comprehensively” to retrieve OCG, who had been surreptitiously transported to Mexico—a country where he previously suffered unspeakable traumas, including abduction and sexual violence, as outlined in filed affidavits.

OCG’s perilous path began with a covert border crossing in March 2024. Following his initial removal, he made his way back into US territory, subsequently presenting his case for humanitarian protection. He expressed grave fears of reentry into Mexico, a sentiment so compelling that an immigration judge issued an official bar against sending him there again, according to ABC News.

Judge Murphy, appalled by the breach, declared the government’s conduct bereft of any “semblance of due process,” highlighting that OCG had not been given a fair hearing before being dispatched. “There’s no insinuation—nor has there ever been—that OCG presents any menace to public safety,” Murphy noted pointedly. “This case does not orbit around exceptional circumstances but rather the quiet terror of a man wrongly exiled to the very land where he faced torment and captivity.”

Post his ill-fated return to Mexico, authorities then moved him further south to Guatemala. There, according to court details, he lived furtively, shielding himself from further danger while awaiting legal redemption.

OCG’s plight is central to a broader class-action litigation underway in Massachusetts, which seeks to dismantle the policy of deporting individuals to nations where they’ve neither resided nor found refuge, as per ABC News.

This stark episode underscores the judicial system’s capacity to demand accountability from immigration authorities, even amid a broader, unyielding enforcement landscape.