Secretary of State Marco Rubio is now personally intervening to undo a deportation his own administration carried out in defiance of a court order, a quiet admission of the overreach in the Trump White House’s continued crackdown on immigration.
According to a federal court filing Monday, Rubio is taking the lead to locate and return Daniel Lozano-Camargo, a Venezuelan asylum seeker who was deported to El Salvador earlier this year under the pretext of the centuries-old Alien Enemies Act.
Lozano-Camargo, 20, was raised in Venezuela by his grandparents after losing his father in an accident at a young age. At 17, he began his journey to the United States, traveling on foot through the treacherous Darién Gap—a perilous stretch of jungle between Colombia and Panama that is often used by migrants.
Court records show Lozano-Camargo was arrested twice in Texas last year on drug possession charges. He pleaded guilty to a reduced felony charge in January and was sentenced to 120 days in jail, receiving credit for time served.
Following his sentence, he was transferred to Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody under a detainer request. However, Lozano-Camargo had a valid work permit and a pending asylum application, protections that, according to U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, should have prevented his deportation.
Rubio, citing a “personal relationship” with Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, is now “personally handling” negotiations to comply with a federal judge’s order, according to ICE official Mellissa Harper, who submitted the declaration just days after assuming her role.
The administration has yet to confirm Lozano-Camargo’s exact location, as he was reportedly one of 300 men transferred to a Salvadoran supermax facility earlier this year.
JUST IN: The Trump administration says Secretary RUBIO is "personally handling" discussions with El Salvador over the return of wrongly deported migrants.
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) June 2, 2025
He has a "personal relationship" with Bukele that dates to his time on Foregn Relations Committee. https://t.co/UlKJh4SECF pic.twitter.com/61fR81xcQl
The Trump administration has frequently defended its deportation of Lozano-Camargo and others in his predicament by citing the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, originally enacted during wartime. However, U.S. District Judge Stephanie Gallagher, whom Trump appointed, opposed his interpretation. In a recent ruling, she found no language in the 2024 settlement that exempted deportations conducted under the Alien Enemies Act and ordered Lozano-Camargo’s immediate return to the United States.
This marks the second time in recent weeks that a federal court has ordered the Trump administration to reverse an unlawful deportation.
In a separate case, another man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was forcibly removed from the country despite a court-issued protective order. During an interview with ABC News back in April, Trump insisted that Abrego Garcia is a member of the criminal MS-13 gang and “is not an innocent, wonderful gentleman from Maryland.”
Trump went on to admit that he could return Abrego Garcia with a simple phone call.
“If he were the gentleman that you say he is, I would do that,” Trump noted before adding, “I’m not the one making this decision.”
