The Trump administration says it has no obligation to retrieve a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador despite a Supreme Court ruling that ordered the government to “facilitate” his return.
In a court filing Sunday, U.S. officials argued that the high court’s directive regarding Kilmar Abrego Garcia simply requires that the Trump administration not block his return should El Salvador elect to send him back but that it does not require actively securing his release from a Salvadoran prison.
“Defendants understand ‘facilitate’ to mean what that term has long meant in the immigration context, namely actions allowing an alien to enter the United States. Taking ‘all available steps to facilitate’ the return of Abrego Garcia is thus best read as taking all available steps to remove any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede the alien’s ability to return here. Indeed, no other reading of ‘facilitate’ is tenable—or constitutional—here,” government attorneys wrote.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national with a valid U.S. work permit since 2019, was deported in March from Maryland as part of a larger group of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members. Although an immigration judge had issued a stay of removal for the deportee, which the Justice Department has acknowledged, the government has argued that Abrego Garcia had MS-13 gang ties and that any prospects of his return are now in El Salvador’s hands.
Last week, the Supreme Court declined to overturn a lower court order from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, who, on April 4, instructed the government to bring him back to the U.S. But the high court order’s careful wording has been subject to varied interpretations, including a line in which the majority said Xinis must clarify part of her original order that directed the government to “effectuate” the return.
President Donald Trump‘s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, spoke to Fox News on Monday, saying the administration viewed the Supreme Court’s order as a win despite legal experts describing it as ambiguous and possibly subject to further review.
“We won the Supreme Court case. Clearly, 9-0,” Miller said. “A district court judge said, unconscionably, that the president has to go into El Salvador and extradite one of their citizens. That would be kidnapping … an invasion of El Salvador’s sovereignty.”
“So [Trump] appealed to the Supreme Court, and it said — clearly — no district court can compel the president to exercise his Article II foreign powers,” Miller added.
Abrego Garcia remains in a Salvadoran terrorism confinement center. The State Department said Saturday he is “alive and secure,” responding to Xinis’s demand for daily updates.
DOJ AND JUDGE CLASH OVER SUPREME COURT ORDER IN ABREGO GARCIA CASE
His lawyers are urging the court to compel the administration to ensure his “safe passage” on a return flight and asked why Trump administration officials shouldn’t be held in contempt.
Trump is expected to meet Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele at the White House on Monday, though it’s unclear whether Abrego Garcia’s case will be raised. Government attorneys have warned that further legal discovery “could interfere with ongoing diplomatic discussions.”