Related Articles
The Supreme Court has ordered that President Donald Trump’s administration “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported on March 15 to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador known for human rights abuses.
The conservative-controlled court’s ruling was unanimous, with all nine justices backing a lower-court order to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador. The ruling sent the case back to the U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who ordered release and return to the U.S.
The judge’s order “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. There was no noted dissent.
Following the court’s decision, in an order late on Thursday Judge Xinis said the government must “take all available steps to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia to the United States as soon as possible.” The judge gave the Justice Department until 9:30 a.m. ET on Friday to detail where Abrego Garcia is located and what steps have been taken to bring him back. Xinis scheduled an in-person status conference for the case at 1 p.m. ET Friday.
In a letter to the Justice Department following the news, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Andrew J. Rossman, wrote, that they “expect that the United States will facilitate Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s immediate release from CECOT — tonight — and make all necessary arrangements for his return to this country, including by dispatching an aircraft to El Salvador to bring him home.” Rossman stressed that given the “grave risk to his safety in El Salvador, time is of the essence.”
The justices did separately say the district court’s order to “effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s release may have been a step too far. Trump’s Justice Department issued a statement attempting to cast the decision as a win for its position, writing: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”
Thursday’s ruling arrives after the Department of Homeland Security admitted that it had wrongfully deported Abrego Garcia to the El Salvadoran prison due to an “administrative error.” Xinis in Maryland last weekorderedthe administration arrange the return of Abrego Garcia, but the Trump administration appealed the ruling, arguing that they did not have the authority to bring back Abrego Garcia since he is in the custody El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia was legally granted protection from deportation afterimmigrationofficials claimed in 2019 that an informant had named him as a member of the gang MS-13. His lawyer called the allegations of gang affiliation false, and previously directedThe Atlanticto records of the incident in which the police officers who initially detained him were unable to find any reliable evidence to link Abrego Garcia to MS-13. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said he has no criminal record in the U.S. or any other country. His wife and son are both citizens.
This article was updated at 12:05 a.m. ET on April 11 to include an order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis and a separate statement from Abrego Garcia’s lawyer.
