Minnesota immigrant stranded in Central African Republic as feds fight return

And there's another story cooking today that Paul Bloom is looking into that he alerted us to this. So let's bring him in now, Paul, you have been from the beginning of Metro surge continuing to stay on top of some of these immigration court cases, the habeas cases, etc. And there's one here that we're talking to you about, which is involving a Nicaraguan immigrant. That couldn't be sent back to Nicaragua, so he was sent somewhere else and now being ordered to return to the US. Fill us in on this. Yeah, this one's a fascinating case. This is a Nicaraguan immigrant living in Shakopee for the last couple of years. And you are right, an immigration court judge at some point said this man could not go back and not be deported back to his home country out of fear of abuse and torture. So any effort to move him back to his native country by this federal government was not going to be allowed to go through Nicaragua. Now, what's interesting, and then we've done some reporting, although we haven't really isolated too many of the cases in Minnesota. What they call third country deportations, where the federal government basically controls where you're gonna go, okay, you can't go home, but you can't stay here, so we're sending you somewhere. And this guy ends up in the Central African Republic. And I don't know a lot about that country. But what's interesting is while the federal government has some type of agreement to send these third country deportees, and the way the court case reads is he was sent with a whole bunch of several dozen. Non-citizen Nicaraguans and they're sent to this country where they're not under arrest, but they're sort of being held in, I don't know if you call it captivity. But they're sort of being held in a building, the building's guarded, what kind of lives they may eventually try to establish for themselves over there. But his legal team here in the States, Took it into court and a federal court judge, Jeffrey Bryan, who has been at odds and often rules against this federal government, this administration on immigration issues. He ordered the immediate return Back to Minnesota, forthwith, of this immigrant. basically giving the government about a week to make that happen. So go back to the Central African Republic and bring the guy back. His name is Kenneth Lopez Gonzalez. He did cross the border, Mexico, United States, several years back. He was He was waved into the country. According to the court record, would make all appearances, that type of thing. He was barred from being sent back to Nicaragua, but now he's sitting in some type of facility in the Central African Republic. And the government, perhaps not surprisingly, is now appealing Judge Bryan's ruling and is asking the judge to sort of freeze the order for now. And it's a case that's really playing out in real time, there's no update right at this minute. The government is asking for the order to be frozen because they have taken this issue now to the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals. And they want the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn this judge's order, Judge Brian's order, and not compel them to bring Mr. Lopez, I wanna make sure I get the name right, Mr. Lopez Gonzalez back to Minnesota. So very much in legal turmoil, but you think about the human impact here. You got a guy who speaks Spanish right now in some African country. And then what's odd is, on the one hand, this government has this agreement to send non-citizens, illegal immigrants to this country. But unlike the travel side, the State Department warns of traveling to the Central African Republic, that it's a dangerous country to go to, so- Well, a couple of questions here, I don't know if you know or not, I mean, did it sound like then he was in the US seeking asylum, like here in an asylum claim process, if he fled Nicaragua? Correct, that- Right, flees Nicaragua, comes to the United States. It's hard to get the exact details of his status because of habeas filings and some of the filings are done sort of privately under seal. So I don't have all of his exact immigration status. I can tell you from Judge Judge Brian's ruling, he says no criminal record. Had established himself with a Minnesota driver's license, a work permit. There was a rally for him last Friday outside a court hearing where Judge Brian would ultimately make this ruling. So he has some support in this community. And Judge Brian says he was, in essence, illegally sent to this third country and doesn't belong there. And is demanding that the US government go get him and bring him back. That's the other question I had here. So I mean, it appears he was here in an asylum claim. This claim was sent to. I just looked up the Central African Republic and it is exactly as named. It is right dead set in the middle of Africa, in Central Africa. Right. Why did they send him there? I mean, that's a long way from Nicaragua. Obviously, he didn't wanna go back to Nicaragua. But I mean, they sent him to yet an entirely different continent. Yeah, I mean, I don't have a great answer for that. I don't see that in the government's findings at this point. But we do know that some of these countries and I'm not completely well researched to know some of them. I do know some of these agreements have come with questionable countries and countries that on the surface you wouldn't necessarily want I want to get sent to, I do know that has been sort of a almost like an encouragement. To some people who are non-citizens in this country to go home to take control of your own future. Because if you do get picked up, you could end up in a third country. And that is what's happened. And clearly now there is this legal fight. Over this guy's fate, and then where does he go? I mean, he has no money. I don't quite understand exactly his housing situation, but it's been described, like I said, in sort of a nondescript building in the Capitol, where he's with a bunch of other non-citizens, And, you know, meaning non-American citizens, they're guarded. You know, I don't even know how you would even begin to establish your life or even try to claw back Back to your home country, and like we've talked about, it's been deemed dangerous that if he returns to Nicaragua, he faces torture and abuse. But they didn't deport him to another Central American country, they sent him to somewhere else. So what are we waiting for to happen now? If this judge has ordered them to return him to the US, we're basically waiting for a response from the federal government? Yeah, I mean, their response was to say to Judge Bryan, hold the phone on that order. Let's pause it, cuz Judge Bryan's given him seven days to get this done, or basically this week cuz the order came down on last Friday. They want this order frozen, they don't wanna move him back yet. And they are appealing his ruling to the 8th Circuit to see if maybe they can quash the order. They feel this is- They're legally authorized to do it. He does not belong in the United States. He's not a citizen here, notwithstanding his current status and fight for asylum or a more permanent future in this country. As I mentioned, according to the record, he has done some of that legwork to establish himself. He's got a construction business. He's got a Minnesota driver's license. He's He's got a work permit. But yet, whatever argument the federal government has, they argue he does not belong here. And if we can't send him back to Nicaragua, we're sending him to a country that will accept some of our non-citizens, and that's the Central African Republic. All right, thank you, Paul, appreciate it. It's so interesting. I mean, the government's saying he doesn't belong here. He says, I can't go back to Nicaragua, but now his attorney's saying, well, he doesn't belong in the Central African Republic either. Neither. I mean, that is a continental way. Fascinating stuff. Thanks, Paul.