Supreme Court says Trump administration must work to bring back
mistakenly deported Maryland man
[April 11, 2025]
By MARK SHERMAN
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump
administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly
deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s
emergency appeal.
The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran
citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to
his native country over fears he would face persecution from local
gangs.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being
held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by
midnight Monday.
“The 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 court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.
It comes after a string of rulings on the court's emergency docket where
the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Trump amid a
wave of lower court orders slowing the president's sweeping agenda.
In Thursday's case, Chief Justice John Roberts had already pushed back
Xinis' deadline. The justices also said that her order must now be
clarified to make sure it doesn’t intrude into executive branch power
over foreign affairs, since Abrego Garcia is being held abroad. The
court said the Trump administration should also be prepared to share
what steps it has taken to try to get him back — and what more it could
potentially do.
The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang,
though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His
attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.
The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to
El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it.
The court’s liberal justices said the administration should have
hastened to correct “its egregious error” and was “plainly wrong” to
suggest it could not bring him home.
“The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and
incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal
consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene,”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, joined by her two colleagues.
Abrego Garcia's wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal has been an
“emotional rollercoaster” for their family and the entire community.
“I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our
home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at
its end. I will continue fighting until my husband is home,” she said.
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Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland,
who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news
conference at CASA's Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md.,
Friday, April 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
One of his lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenburg, said “tonight, the
rule of law prevailed," and he encouraged the government to "stop
wasting time and get moving.”
In the district court, Xinis wrote that the decision to arrest
Abrego Garcia and send him to El Salvador appears to be “wholly
lawless.” There is little to no evidence to support a “vague,
uncorroborated” allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13
street gang, Xinis wrote.
The 29-year-old was detained by immigration agents and deported last
month.
He had a permit from the Homeland Security Department to legally
work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a
journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant DHS secretary for public affairs, said
Thursday that the justices' order for clarification from the lower
court was a win for the administration. “We look forward to
continuing to advance our position in this case,” she said.
A Justice Department spokesman said the court had “directly noted
the deference owed to the Executive Branch” in foreign affairs.
An immigration judge had previously barred the U.S. from deporting
Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in 2019, finding that he faced likely
persecution by local gangs.
A Justice Department lawyer conceded in a court hearing that Abrego
Garcia should not have been deported. Attorney General Pam Bondi
later removed the lawyer, Erez Reuveni, from the case and placed him
on leave.
___
Associated Press writers Lindsay Whitehurst, Rebecca Santana and
Alanna Durkin Richer contributed to this report.
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