WASHINGTON, April 11 — The US Supreme Court yesterday ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of a Salvadoran migrant who was wrongfully deported last month and sent to a notorious prison in his native country.
The government must “‘facilitate’ (Kilmar) 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 conservative-majority court said in its unsigned ruling.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was living in the eastern state of Maryland until he became one of more than 200 people sent to a prison in El Salvador last month as part of Republican President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.
Abrego Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, when a judge ruled he should not be deported because he could be harmed in El Salvador.
Lower courts had ordered that the US government return him to the United States by midnight on Monday, although the Supreme Court put that order on hold hours before the deadline.
The government had challenged the orders, arguing that Abrego Garcia is a member of Salvadoran gang MS-13 — a claim the lower courts found lacked evidence.
It also argued that it no longer had jurisdiction to have Abrego Garcia released now he is Salvadoran soil.
“The deadline in the challenged order is no longer effective,” the Supreme Court ruled yesterday.
However, “the rest of the District Court’s order remains in effect” requiring Abrego Garcia’s return, the judges added.
A minority statement signed by liberal Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson argued there was “no basis in law” for Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador.
“The government’s argument… implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including US citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court could intervene,” they added. — AFP