A federal choose on Wednesday ordered the federal government to launch a Venezuelan Momentary Protected Standing holder who was wrongfully detained in January and was nearly placed on a deportation flight to El Salvador.
U.S. District Decide Rolando Olvera additionally ordered the federal government to pay for Adrian Gil Rojas’ journey again to his house in New York from a detention middle in Texas.
The choose really helpful an ankle monitor be positioned on Rojas pending a future immigration listening to.
In line with court docket data, Rojas was arrested greater than two months in the past after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers entered his house on the lookout for one other particular person.
“He opened [the door] holding his 2-year-old son,” Rojas’ attorneys mentioned in a criticism filed in March. “The officers took his son from him, handcuffed and fingerprinted him, all with out permission or consent.”
Rojas, in accordance with court docket data, repeatedly instructed the immigration officers that he has legitimate TPS standing and confirmed them his immigration paperwork.
“The officers ignored him however retained the paperwork,” the criticism mentioned.
Alleged members of the Venezuelan prison group Tren de Aragua who had been deported by the U.S. authorities, are detained on the Terrorism Confinement Middle in Tecoluca, El Salvador in a photograph obtained Mar. 16, 2025.
Secretaria de Prensa de la Presidencia through Reuters
In a submitting on Tuesday, a letter from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Providers that was included as an exhibit mentioned that Rojas’ TPS standing had been revoked and alleged that he’s a member of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
In line with the letter, the U.S. authorities decided Rojas is a member of TdA due to his social media posts that point out he resided with a identified TdA member and due to his tattoos.
Rojas’ attorneys pushed again on the letter from USCIS saying the doc “doesn’t suffice to terminate his TPS standing and it doesn’t render his detention lawful.”
“Respondents knowledgeable Petitioner for the primary time right this moment that they intend to withdraw his present TPS grant,” Rojas’ attorneys mentioned within the submitting. “The letter Petitioner obtained signifies that Respondents imagine he’s a “member or affiliate” of Tren de Aragua, a illustration they haven’t made earlier than this Courtroom.”
Within the court docket order on Wednesday, Decide Olvera mentioned Rojas has legitimate TPS standing.
On March 14, after Rojas was “abruptly transferred” to a detention middle in Texas, he and different people had been positioned on a removing flight they had been instructed was going to Venezuela — however “because of mechanical issues,” the airplane didn’t take off, in accordance with the criticism.
Rojas, in accordance with court docket data, was instructed he was going to be placed on a brand new flight the subsequent day. Rojas’ companion then knowledgeable his attorneys that Rojas was going to be deported from the U.S., and later that day a choose granted the legal professional’s request for a brief restraining order stopping his removing.
The subsequent day, over 200 Venezuelan males who the federal government claims had been gang members — who had been being held on the similar Texas facility as Rojas — had been positioned on flights and deported underneath the Alien Enemies Act to a infamous jail in El Salvador with little-to-no due course of.
“We had been horrified that the federal government would disregard the authorized protections that Gil Rojas enjoys and was able to ship him to El Salvador, to that terrible jail,” legal professional Javier Maldonado instructed ABC Information.
“He bought fortunate and I hope that the administration learns that they must adjust to the legislation and so they must be sure that the people that they are rounding up are usually not people who’ve a proper to stay within the U.S. and have authorized rights that may be asserted in court docket,” Maldonado mentioned.
In its response, the federal government acknowledged that Rojas was not “deportable right this moment” however argued that he ought to stay detained till his TPS advantages had been anticipated to run out on April 2.
Rojas missed a court docket date in September that resulted in an in absentia order of removing. Rojas’ attorneys have since filed a movement to rescind that order.
Considered one of Rojas’ attorneys is lead counsel on a separate case difficult the Trump administration’s choice to finish TPS protections sooner than the October 2026 date that had been granted by the Biden administration. Final week, a federal choose barred the administration from ending protections for as much as 350,000 migrants on April 2.
“Even when TPS does expire, Mr. Gil Rojas is not going to change into topic to removing except and till the Immigration Decide presiding over his removing case denies his movement to reopen,” Rojas’ attorneys mentioned in a submitting final week.
“The federal government can detain individuals solely the place it has authority to take action now, not the place it would achieve such authority sooner or later,” his attorneys mentioned.
