US Supreme Court pauses midnight deadline to return man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

By Darren Lyn

HOUSTON, United States (AA) - The US Supreme Court on Monday temporarily paused a midnight deadline for the Trump administration to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador as part of a surprise airlift of purported gang members to the Terrorism Confinement Center there.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, was unlawfully expelled from the US in March and sent back to his home country of El Salvador, even though he won a court order six years ago in a separate case that barred his removal from the country. He is now being held in the supermax prison until his case is resolved.

US District Judge Paula Xinis on Friday ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia by midnight on Monday, but White House officials argued that they do not have the ability to send him back to the United States.

Trump attorneys admitted in court filings that Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported "because of an administrative error" but said it could not return him because he is now in custody of another country.

The Justice Department said it would be an unprecedented move for the federal courts to order Abrego Garcia's return because it would be overstepping their power.

"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," said Solicitor General D. John Sauer in a court filing.

Abrego Garcia was among hundreds of alleged gang members of the Salvadoran crime gang MS-13 and Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang which the Trump administration expelled to El Salvador last month using its interpretation of the Alien Enemies Act.

Civil rights activists argued that the removals of the alleged criminals were illegal because the men were not given due process through court hearings to argue their innocence before being flown away on deportation flights.

Abrego Garcia entered the United States illegally, but an immigration judge in 2019 ruled that he could not be deported because a gang in his native country had been "targeting him" with death threats over his family business.

The 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled to deny the Justice Department's request to lift the lower court's order to return Abrego Garcia before the Supreme Court stepped in to pause the ruling, which legal experts said could take several days to resolve.

"There is no question that the government screwed up here," said Judge Harvie Wilkinson III in his ruling to uphold the lower court's decision to have Abrego Garcia returned to the US. "Thus the government here took the only action which was expressly prohibited."