An immigration judge granted O.C.G. withholding of removal to Guatemala, his home country, after finding it more likely than not that he would suffer serious harm there. The court sets out what happened next: “Two days later, and without any notice, O.C.G. was placed on a bus and sent to Mexico, a country where he was previously held for ransom and raped.” And then: “As a result, O.C.G. was given up to Mexico, which then sent him back to Guatemala, where he remains in hiding today.” The government had filed a declaration, made under oath, stating that O.C.G. said before removal that he had no fear of Mexico. The court records that on 16 May 2025 the government “acknowledged an ‘error’ in their previous filings and statements to the Court.” Finding a likelihood of success on the due process claim, and rejecting the government’s argument under 8 U.S.C. 1252(g) on the ground that “Defendants’ gestalt argument cannot supersede the plain text of the statute as interpreted by authority binding on this Court,” the court ordered the government “to take all immediate steps, including coordinating with Plaintiffs’ counsel, to facilitate the return of O.C.G. to the United States.”
The same order records what had been said in the immigration court: “During the withholding-only proceedings, O.C.G. asked if he might be sent to Mexico—because he was afraid of being sent to Mexico—and the immigration judge told him, ‘we cannot send you back to Mexico, sir, because you’re a native of Guatemala.’ ... At the close of that hearing, the government’s attorney clarified with the immigration judge that, because Guatemala was the country of removal designated on O.C.G.’s order of removal, that was the only relevant country for purposes of the withholding-only proceedings, and the immigration judge agreed.” (784 F. Supp. 3d at 407, as quoted in the judgment of 25 February 2026.)