Washington – The Supreme Court said Thursday that the Trump administration was required to “facilitate” the release of a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to a prison in El Salvador.
The court in part granted and in part rejected an emergency request filed by the Ministry of Justice disputing the order of a judge according to which Kilmar Abrego Garcia is recovered from a prison in El Salvador where he was sent on March 15 with alleged members of Venezuelans.
The decision means that the administration did not immediately try to return Abrego Garcia to the United States because a deadline imposed by the judge has already expired, but “should be ready to share what it can concern the measures it has taken and the prospect of new measures,” said the decision not signed.
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The judge of the district court may have exceeded his authority by saying that the government should not only “facilitate” but “also” affect “the return of Abrego Garcia, added the court. The judge must” clarify his directive, with regard to the deference of executive power in the conduct of foreign affairs, “said the court order.
There were no dissident votes, but the three liberal judges of the Court signed a separate declaration written by judge Sonia Sotomayor saying that “the appropriate appeal was to provide Abrego Garcia to the whole process to which he would have been entitled if he had not been illegally removed from El Salvador.”
Abrego Garcia was exploded by mistake to a notorious prison in Salvador on March 15 as part of the aggressive and heavily disputed plan of the Trump administration to send alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren in Aragua.
Immigration officials allege that Grego Garcia, who has entered the United States illegally, is a member of the Gang MS-13 but conceded that he should not have been sent to El Salvador, his country of birth, calling him an “administrative error”.
Abrego Garcia lived in Beltsville, Maryland, with his wife and three children, who all have special needs. He came to the United States to escape the violence of the gangs, say his lawyers.
In 2019, the government began an effort to deport it, alleging that it was a member of the MS-13 gang. An immigration judge ruled that Greo Garcia could not be expelled to El Salvador because there was “a clear probability of future persecution”.
Until his detention in March, he worked as sheet metal in Maryland and registered with immigration officials if necessary, said lawyers.
Last week, the American district judge based in Maryland, Paula Xinis, ordered the government “to facilitate and make the return” of Abrego Garcia at 11:59 pm on Monday.
After failing to cancel the conclusion to a court of appeal, the Trump administration turned to the Supreme Court. On Monday, chief judge John Roberts issued a temporary suspension while the court decided what next steps to take.
The Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court documents that the judges do not have the power to “take control of foreign relations” by forcing the officials to negotiate with Salvador. He said the Trump administration guaranteed that no one deported to Salvador prison will be tortured.
ABREGO GARCIA’s lawyers described his dismissal to Salvador as a “Kafka-Esque error”, saying that the Salvadoran government was not actively looking for its extradition and that it had never been accused of a crime.
His case is the last high -level legal battle arising from President Donald Trump’s attempt to exercise large presidential power to expel immigrants, often leading to allegations that their rights have been raped.
A lawyer for the Ministry of Justice in the case was put on administrative leave because of comments he made before the court when he told the judge that he was “frustrated” that he could not answer some of his questions.
In another case, the Supreme Court blocked a decision on Monday by a federal judge who prevented the Venezuelans deported by a rarely invoked law called the Extraterrestrial Enemies Act.
