Venezuelan deportee can return to US but fears repeat of ordeal: ‘I’m not over that nightmare yet’

<p>Luis Muñoz Pinto, 27, who was sent to notoriously brutal prison in El Salvador, would like to clear his name after US judge’s ruling</p><p>A US federal judge’s order that some of the Venezuelan men sent by the Trump administration to a notorious prison in El Salvador must be allowed to return to the United States to fight their cases has been greeted with hope and a sense of vindication – but also fear – by one of the deportees.<br><br>
US district judge James Boasberg <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/judge-orders-return-venezuelans-formerly-detained-el-salvador-choose-c-rcna258755">ruled</a> on Thursday in Washington DC that the Trump administration should facilitate the return of deportees who are currently in countries outside <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/venezuela">Venezuela</a>, saying they must be given the opportunity to seek the due process they were denied after being illegally <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/16/deportation-alleged-gang-members-el-salvador">expelled from the US</a> last March.</p><p>Boasberg added that the US government should cover the travel costs of those who wish to come to the US to argue their <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/usimmigration">immigration</a> cases.</p> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/14/venezuelan-illegally-deported-return-fears">Continue reading...</a>