Kilmar Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant who is married to a U.S. citizen, was mistakenly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador last month despite a court ruling forbidding his removal from the United States, but the Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to bring him home.
A District Court judge had ordered Kilmar Abrego García to be brought back to the United States by Monday night, but Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. issued a brief pause hours before the deadline, allowing the justices time to weigh a government motion to block the order.
In its brief order Thursday evening, the high court said the judge “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 justices added that the Trump administration should be prepared to “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”
The case has become a major flash point over President Donald Trump’s mass-deportation campaign.
Abrego García’s attorneys have said their client is the victim of a “Kafkaesque mistake” and critics say the government’s contention that a judge has no power to order his return raises the possibility that other non-citizens could be whisked to a foreign country with little recourse.
In a separate immigration-related ruling on Monday, the Supreme Court lifted a block on the administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act to try to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members, but said the government must give potential deportees notice of proceedings against them and a chance to challenge them in court.
Abrego García, a Salvadoran immigrant who is married to a U.S. citizen, was deported on March 15 despite a court ruling forbidding it.
His attorneys say he is at risk of harm or death in El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, which holds many gang members. Abrego García fled El Salvador as a teen following threats from gang members and attempts to extort his mother.
The court’s three liberal justices criticized the Trump administration for suggesting that it could leave Abrego García in a Salvadoran prison for “no reason recognized by the law.”
The government’s argument “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,” wrote Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
In its order, the court also directed U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis to clarify her initial order to the extent she required the Trump administration to “effectuate” Abrego García’s return.
“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 order said.
Trump officials have alleged Abrego García is a member of the MS-13 gangbased on reports from a confidential informant, but have not offered any evidence to back up their claims. Attorneys for Abrego García say he is not a gang member and has no criminal record in the United States or El Salvador.
The government hascalled Abrego García’s deportation an “administrative error.” But officials have argued they can do little to get him back because he is now in the custody of a foreign country — albeit through a detention deal the Trump administration negotiated with El Salvador. They also have argued that Xinis does not have authority to order the government to try to get him back.
“The Constitution charges the President, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the Nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in a filing to the Supreme Court.