DOJ Asks SCOTUS to Block Judge’s Demand for Return of Illegal Migrant

The Department of Justice has asked the Supreme Court to override a district court judge’s demand that an illegal migrant be flown back to the United States from El Salvador.

“If this precedent stands, other district courts could order the United States to successfully negotiate the return of other removed aliens anywhere in the world by close of business,” said the request by D. John Sauer, the U.S. solicitor general.

“Under that logic, district courts would effectively have extraterritorial jurisdiction over the United States’ diplomatic relations with the whole world,” he wrote, adding:

While the United States concedes that removal to El Salvador was an administrative error, that does not license district courts to seize control over foreign relations, treat the executive branch as a subordinate diplomat and demand that the United States let a member of a foreign terrorist organization into America tonight.

“The alien is no ordinary individual, but rather a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization, MS-13,” Sauer explained, and joined other administration officials that say the judge’s demand is another power-grab by a series of anti-Trump judges. “It is the latest in a litany of injunctions or temporary restraining orders from the same handful of district courts that demand immediate or near-immediate compliance, on absurdly short deadlines,” he wrote.

The illegal migrant is named Abrego Garcia. His return is being demanded by Judge Paula Xinis of the Federal District Court in Maryland “by no later than 11:59 PM on Monday, April 7, 2025.”

Her decision was upheld by a three-judge appeal court panel. She argued the deportation was illegal because a prior judge decided the migrant could face gang violence if he was returned to his El Salvador homeland. She also dismissed the administration’s argument that the migrant was a member of the MS_13 gang, saying:

The ‘evidence’ against Abrego Garcia consisted of nothing more than his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie and a vague, uncorroborated allegation from a confidential informant claiming he belonged to MS-13’s ‘Western’ clique in New York — a place he has never lived.

However, many Democrats and their media are rallying behind the illegal migrant. The policy is politically risky because polls show that the deportation of illegal migrants is very popular.

The case is J.G.G. vs Trump, Civil Action No. 25-766 (JEB) in the federal District Court of D.C.