The U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the Trump administration must facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man in the United States illegally but who was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador.
“The court partly granted and partly rejected an emergency request filed by the Justice Department contesting a judge’s order that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be retrieved from a prison in El Salvador where he was sent March 15 along with men alleged to be Venezuelan gang members,” reported NBC News.
“There were no dissenting votes, but the court’s three liberal justices signed on to a separate statement authored by Justice Sonia Sotomayor saying they agreed that ‘the proper remedy is to provide Abrego Garcia with all the process to which he would have been entitled had he not been unlawfully removed to El Salvador,'” added NBC NEws.
The decision clarified that the Trump administration does not have to immediately retrieve Garcia from El Salvador, noting that the judge-imposed deadline has already expired while advising it “should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.” The ruling criticized District Judge Paula Xinis for potentially overstepping by ordering the government to “effectuate” his return, which could infringe on the executive’s foreign affairs authority. The district court was directed to clarify its order with deference to the president’s powers.
A Justice Department spokesman said in a statement that the ruling shows the Supreme Court understands “it is the exclusive prerogative of the president to conduct foreign affairs,” adding it “illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the president’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”
Abrego Garcia, a Beltsville, Maryland, resident with a wife and three children, was deported as part of a Trump policy targeting alleged Venezuelan gang members. Immigration officials labeled him an MS-13 member but admitted his deportation was an “administrative error.”
A 2019 immigration judge had ruled that he could not be deported to El Salvador due to persecution risks. His lawyers called the deportation a “Kafka-esque mistake,” noting he faced no charges and had complied with U.S. immigration requirements.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt countered that the administration had “credible intelligence proving” Garcia “was involved in human trafficking” and that he allegedly was “a leader, of the brutal MS-13 gang.”
“The administration maintains the position that this individual — who was deported to El Salvador, and will not be returning to our country — was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang. That is fact number one,” Leavitt said. “Fact number two, we also have credible intelligence proving that this individual was involved in human trafficking. And, fact number three, this individual was a member, actually a leader, of the brutal MS-13 gang — which this president has designated as Foreign Terrorist Organization.”
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