Another Maryland Judge Demands DHS Return Another Removed Alien
‘Cristian’ — an alleged Tren de Aragua member — isn’t a child anymore, but he’s still protected by one of the worst immigration laws still on the books
By Andrew R. Arthur on April 29, 2025
On April 23, yet another Maryland federal district court judge ordered the government to bring another alien removed from the United States to El Salvador returned. But unlike the high-profile case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran national alleged to be an MS-13 member removed under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) — this alien is a Venezuelan national alleged to be a Tren de Aragua (TdA) member removed under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA). And the issue is not any “error” on DHS’s part, but an 11th hour “gift” the outgoing Biden administration seemingly left to stymie Trump, and the alien is being protected under the worst immigration laws still on the books.
UACs and the TVPRA. This actually begins 17 years ago, when a Democrat-controlled Congress passed one of most poorly thought-out laws ever, section 235 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA).
When Congress created DHS in the Homeland Security Act of 2002 (HSA), it transferred jurisdiction over the detention and release of “unaccompanied alien children” (UACs) from the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) — an agency abolished by the HSA — to the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), which to that point only gave benefits to aliens granted asylum and those admitted as refugees.
The HSA defined the term “unaccompanied alien child” as:
a child who— (A) has no lawful immigration status in the United States; (B) has not attained 18 years of age; and (C) with respect to whom— (i) there is no parent or legal guardian in the United States; or (ii) no parent or legal guardian in the United States is available to provide care and physical custody.
https://cis.org/Arthur/Another-Maryland-Judge-Demands-DHS-Return-Another-Removed-Alien
