A federal judge in Texas ordered the Trump administration Monday to facilitate contact between a Venezuelan man deported to El Salvador and his lawyers, giving the federal government until Wednesday afternoon.
It’s the first such order in the mounting legal saga surrounding President Donald Trump’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to deport hundreds of men to a supermax prison in El Salvador notorious for human rights abuses. The Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, generally offers zero contact between inmates and the outside world, including their lawyers and families.
The order by Judge Keith P. Ellison of the Southern District of Texas gives the government 24 hours to confirm the location of the plaintiff — a 24-year-old Venezuelan man — and 48 hours to “restore and help maintain attorney-client communication” with him.