The Department of Homeland Security made a "crucial misstatement" in court and then, while attempting to clean up that error, accidentally violated a court order, a legal expert said Sunday.
An unnamed individual who is part of litigation involving deportations of those who might be tortured in the destination country filed a brief Sunday, in which the plaintiff says that he seeks "immediate injunctive relief to protect him from an ongoing risk of imminent harm."
"Despite Defendants now acknowledging that they made misrepresentations to the Court regarding the notice provided to him and regarding his alleged statement that he had no fear of being removed to Mexico, Defendants have refused to commit to immediately facilitate his return," attorneys for the plaintiff wrote. "Moreover, Defendants have greatly exacerbated the risk of harm to Plaintiff O.C.G. through their disclosure of his identity on the public docket, which already had garnered media attention and heightened the threat to his life and safety by the time Defendants took steps to correct that filing."
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The brief continues by saying, "Defendants’ unlawful deportation of Plaintiff O.C.G. to Mexico without notice or an opportunity to present his fear claim to that country placed him in serious danger of irreparable harm before that harm was compounded by the disclosure of his identity."
This was summed up by legal expert Roger Parloff, who said, "In correcting an earlier (crucial) misstatement about Guatemalan OCG, whom government removed to Mexico and who is now hiding in Guatemala due to fear of persecution, government inadvertently identified OCG's name, violating court order and heightening the danger OCG's in."
Parloff added, "Complicated background, but OCG is a name plaintiff in the DVD class action, which is trying to prevent aliens from being removed to 3d countries without an opportunity to raise and litigate claims of fear of persecution and torture."
