First at TPM: In Shift, Trump Admin Returns Wrongfully Deported Man

INSIDE: Hannah Dugan ... Tucker Carlson ... Jack Smith

(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.

Not How Abrego Garcia Was Handled

In what appears to be a dramatic reversal from its reaction to other wrongful deportations this year, the Trump administration has quietly returned Faustino Pablo Pablo from Guatemala, according to a court order issued in the case yesterday.

The administration was under a court-imposed deadline of Dec. 12 to return the Guatemalan national. He was apparently returned on Dec. 11, according to the order issued by U.S. District Judge David C. Guaderrama of the Western District of Texas.

The precise account of what happened in the habeas case isn’t easily accessed by the public in court records (Politico has a request pending with the court to make the records of the case available online.) But the basic outlines of the case emerge in the publicly available orders from Judge Guaderrama.

Pablo was wrongfully deported on Nov. 20 despite an order of withholding issued more than a decade ago by an immigration judge that barred his removal to Guatemala. The immigration judge found that Pablo had “shown it is more likely than not that he will be tortured by, or with the consent or acquiescence of, the Guatemalan government.”

When Pablo, who has lived in California, showed up for a routine check-in appointment with ICE on Nov. 5, he was detained “without notice or explanation,” according to court records in the case. On Nov. 17, Pablo was transferred to the El Paso, Texas, as a precursor to his removal.

On Nov. 18, Pablo filed a writ of habeas corpus in federal court, according to court records. On Nov. 20, he sought an injunction from the court prohibiting the government from removing him from the Western District of Texas while his habeas case was pending.

By then it was too late.

Earlier that same day, at 5 a.m., Pablo was transported to the airport, court records show. At 6 a.m., he was put on a direct flight to Guatemala.

By the time the court, later in the day, issued the injunction barring Pablo’s removal, he had already landed in Guatemala City.

Unlike the very similar case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March despite an immigration judge order barring his removal there, the Trump administration conceded Pablo’s removal was “unlawful” and moved to rectify the situation.

The administration assured the court on Dec. 3 that Pablo was “tentatively scheduled” for a Dec. 4 return flight. When Pablo wasn’t returned on Dec. 4, Judge Guaderrama went ballistic, decrying the “blatant lawlessness” of Pablo’s removal. At that point, Guaderrama gave the administration until Dec. 12 to get Pablo back.

There was some movement after that. On Dec. 10, the administration notified that court that the Guatemala Migration Institute had granted Pablo a passport, ICE had approved him for parole back into the United States; he was booked for a return flight on Dec. 11.

“On December 12, 2025, [the government] filed another Declaration informing the Court that [Pablo] arrived in the United States on December 11, 2025,” the judge said in the new order yesterday. Pablo’s attorneys had said they would withdraw their “Motion for Civil Contempt and Sanctions” if Pablo was returned, and the judge has now deemed it as withdrawn.

It’s not clear if Pablo is out of the woods yet. As in the Abrego Garcia case, the administration has threatened to remove Pablo to a third country upon his return to the United States. “One thing is certain: he is not going to be able to remain in the U.S. We will deport him to another country,” the bombastic DHS spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin said on Dec. 6, before Pablo’s return.

The Mass Deportation-Tech Complex

404 Media: How a US Citizen Was Scanned With ICE’s Facial Recognition Tech

Fellow Judge Testifies Against Dugan

State Judge Kristela L. Cervera took the stand for the prosecution yesterday during the trial of Judge Hannah Dugan for allegedly interfering with the ICE’s courthouse arrest of a undocumented immigrant. (For real time coverage of the trial, Adam Klasfeld has you covered.)

White House Uses Tragedy to Do More Racism

The Trump White House is continuing to use the shooting of two national guardsmen in D.C. as an excuse to inflict more draconian restrictions on the immigration of people of color, adding 20 more countries to its travel ban list:

Quote of the Day

“If [Russ] Vought is the nation’s shadow president for domestic policy, then Stephen Miller is its shadow president for internal security. Miller, Trump’s top domestic policy adviser, is using the president’s authority to try to transform the ethnic mix of the country — to make America white again, or at least whiter than it is now.”–Jamelle Bouie

Coast Guard Performs Double Reversal

After a WaPo report last month that the Coast Guard would no longer classify swastikas and nooses as hate symbols, the military service reversed course. But it subsequently went ahead and implemented the policy that downgrades those symbols to merely “potentially divisive,” the WaPo now reports.

More Fallout Over Carlson-Fuentes Interview

Two more trustees have resigned from the Heritage Foundation’s governing board in the protest over President Kevin D. Roberts’ defense of Tucker Carlson’s October interview with antisemite Nick Fuentes.

Venezuela Colombia Watch

All five of the unlawful strikes against alleged drug-smuggling boats over the past month were in the eastern Pacific, not the Caribbean, the NYT reports.

Jack Smith Testifies Today

In one of the abusive investigate-the-investigators schemes, former Special Counsel Jack Smith relented to House GOP demands and will give testimony today behind closed doors on his Jan. 6 and Mar-a-Lago probes, despite his demands for a public hearing.

ICYMI

Mother Jones: New Justice Department Voting Rights Chief Had Prior Job Suspension for Ties to Election Deniers

The Destruction: NCAR Edition

Meteorologists and climate scientists are aghast that that Trump administration, spearheaded by OMB Director Russ Vought, is moving to dismantle the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder.

Federal Judge May Rein in Trump Ballroom

In the lawsuit by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, U.S. District Judge Richard Leon said he would hold the Trump administration to its pledge to submit the vanity ballroom project for federal review and hold a hearing in January on whether to halt construction. But for now he let below-ground construction continue with a warning: “The judge did caution administration officials that they should be prepared to reverse the below-ground steps if he later concludes they sought to lock in a more expansive project than is eventually permitted.”

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