John Doe managed to get out safely from his hideout in Mexico but, as soon as he set foot on U.S. territory, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained him again, in a new attempt to deport him. It is the latest chapter in the journey of a Mexican who collaborated with the U.S. Government as a witness in drug trafficking cases and whose life was put at risk after being deported three times, the last time on August 1, to an area of high drug smuggling activity. He was left adrift because he never became a protected witness nor received, in exchange for the information he provided, an immigration status that would allow him to live legally in this country.
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By order of a federal judge, John Doe —the pseudonym used by the judicial system to protect the identity of individuals— received support from U.S. authorities themselves to return safely to the country. The court order was issued on August 21, but it was not carried out until this week. On Wednesday, September 2, at a hearing, prosecutors made a last attempt to keep the witness in Mexico. Except for a close relative and his lawyer, Anna Tijerina, no one knew where he was hiding, on the other side of the border. They feared that organized crime would locate and kill him. “Anywhere in Mexico where he is, he is at risk because of the presence of drug trafficking,” Tijerina said in an interview with EL PAÍS.
It has also not been revealed where ICE is holding him in custody. District Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher had ordered the Government that, if he was detained again, he be held in a place no more than 200 miles (320 kilometers) from Baltimore, where John Doe has lived, and that he be guaranteed access to his lawyer. ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not respond to requests for comment sent by this newspaper.
“How is it possible that the Government puts the lives of people who are helping make the country safer at risk? Because, obviously, agreeing to be a witness in a drug trafficking or cartel case was what put his life at risk,” Tijerina demanded. “Before all this, he was not afraid to return to Mexico.”
Almost the entire file of John Doe, filed before a federal court in Baltimore, remains sealed by court order. It is a secret, for now, against which Mexican drug trafficking figures he testified in court. His role within organized crime is also unknown. “We are not giving details about the case because we do not want to reveal information about who my client is, about his identity, that could put him in even greater danger,” Tijerina said.
The lawyer did confirm that her client was never under the protection of the witness protection program administered by federal marshals, a security measure usually used by those who become informants for U.S. authorities. “He only testified and went to a place, by himself. And after that, he was in the immigration case,” she explained.
From witness to deportable
This is how this Mexican went from being an important collaborator of prosecutors to becoming a target of ICE. After giving his statements before a jury, he ended up in the custody of that agency for a reason that has not been revealed. In July 2024, an immigration judge postponed his deportation under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), after determining that it was possible “that he would be tortured by the Government or by individuals acting with the Government’s consent if returned to Mexico.”
ICE released him at the end of that year. However, in January 2026, when he showed up for a routine immigration check-in, the agency took him into custody again. He spent six months in a detention center in Louisiana and, during that time, his lawyer filed a legal appeal to demand justification for the witness’s imprisonment. “They never conducted a credible fear interview,” Tijerina said, referring to her client’s attempt to remain in the country through an asylum request.
Those strategies were of little use. On July 10, he was deported to Guatemala. Authorities in that country refused to receive him and handed him over to Mexican officials to transfer him to Mexico. But after John Doe’s lawyer notified them that his client was protected by the Convention Against Torture, Mexican authorities decided to return him to the United States.
Upon arriving at a Texas airport, he was detained again “without being allowed to speak with his family or his lawyer,” according to court documents. On July 15 or 16, he was deported for the second time, this time to Mexico. Authorities in that country again refused to receive him and returned him to U.S. territory. He then spent 10 days in detention cells until August 1, when he was taken to the Texas border to be expelled, for the third time, to Mexico, “without his phone or other personal belongings.”
John Doe’s lawyer finds it ironic that her client collaborated with the Department of Justice and, years later, it is this agency that legally represents ICE in its effort to justify his expulsion to Mexico. “The only thing it is causing is that people do not want to testify, do not want to help the U.S. Government,” Tijerina said.
