A United States federal judge has ordered the government to bring back a gay asylum seeker who was wrongfully deported under the Trump administration in violation of his legal protections. On Friday, May 24, Judge Brian E. Murphy, a Biden appointee to the US District Court, issued a preliminary injunction demanding the return of the man, identified in court documents by the initials O.C.G.

O.C.G., who had fled Guatemala after being kidnapped and raped due to his sexual orientation, had previously been granted protection from deportation under US immigration orders in 2023. However, despite these protections, he was placed on a bus to Mexico by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), reportedly without a hearing.

From there, Mexican authorities deported him to Guatemala, placing him in immediate danger. The man is now in hiding in Mexico and wrote in a declaration published publicly that he lives in fear for his life. “I can’t be gay here, which means I cannot be myself. I cannot express myself and I am not free,” he said.

Judge Murphy described the handling of the case as “troubling” and criticised the Department of Homeland Security for twice submitting false information to the court. His ruling underscored a growing concern about the treatment of LGBTQ+ asylum seekers and migrants, especially those from Central and South America, where anti-LGBTQ+ violence remains pervasive.

The case echoes a distressingly common pattern. One recent example involves Andry Hernández Romero, a gay Venezuelan makeup artist, who was mistakenly identified as a gang member due to his tattoos. A contractor for the private prison company CoreCivic reportedly facilitated his transfer to El Salvador’s CECOT prison, infamous for its brutal and inhumane conditions. Hernández Romero has not been heard from since, and it is unclear if he remains alive.

These incidents occur against a backdrop of intensifying anti-immigration and asylum efforts during the Trump administration, including moves to deport student visa holders and expanded vetting of foreign applicants’ social media profiles, including the popular J1 visa often used by recent Irish graduates.