WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to begin the process of releasing a Maryland man it mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
In a brief order issued late Thursday, the high court said the U.S. must “facilitate” the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia and ensure that his case is handled as it would have had he not improperly been sent to El Salvador.
The justices didn’t say exactly what Abrego Garcia’s release from custody will look like or how he can get back to the U.S. Instead, they sent the case back to U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland, who last week ordered the administration to bring Abrego Garcia bring back to the United States.
The Supreme Court asked Xinis to clarify her order.
Federal immigration agents arrested Abrego Garcia, 29, on March 12 after pulling him over in an Ikea parking lot near his home in Beltsville, Maryland, about half an hour outside of Washington. Officials contend he is a member of the MS-13 criminal gang, although they have presented no evidence to back up that claim.
Three days after his arrest, Abrego Garcia was deported even though he had a protective order barring his expulsion from the United States. He was sent to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, known as CECOT, which has been criticized for its harsh and dangerous conditions, as well as its rough treatment of prisoners.
Deportation blamed on ‘administrative error’
The Trump administration admitted in court documents that his deportation was a mistake, which it blamed it on an “administrative error.” But the Justice Department said it has no authority to return him to the United States because he is in a foreign country.
Xinis ruled on April 4 that the government acted illegally in expelling Abrego Garcia and ordered the administration to return him to the U.S. by the end of April 7. But Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts put her order on hold, pending the high court’s review of the case.
Xinis originally instructed Trump officials to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return. But the high court expressed concern that the term “effectuate” in that order might have gone too far in telling Trump officials how to manage foreign affairs.
“The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs,” the justices said in their order. “For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”
Abrego Garcia was among the hundreds of alleged members of criminal gangs MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua the government expelled from the United States and sent to El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia, however, had won a court order in an earlier case that protected him from being removed from the United States.
More: A Maryland dad was sent to El Salvador prison by mistake. Can his community get him back?
A federal immigration judge issued that order after Abrego Garcia was arrested in 2019 outside a Home Depot in Hyattsville, Maryland. Government lawyers argued that a confidential informant had claimed he was a member of MS-13.
Abrego Garcia, who is from El Salvador, contended he was not a gang member and that his parents had sent him to the United States when he was a teenager because he was under pressure to join a rival gang of MS-13.
