The Supreme Court ruled Thursday the Trump administration must facilitate the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month, siding with a lower court’s ruling that the man was removed from the U.S. without legal basis.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said in a filing she agreed with a district court’s order that Kilmar Abrego Garcia must be given “all the process to which he would have been entitled had he not been unlawfully removed to El Salvador.”
The Supreme Court order means Garcia must receive due process including “notice and an opportunity to be heard” in future proceedings.
The deadline to return Garcia by April 7 has passed and is no longer effective, according to the court’s decision, which did not clarify a new deadline for his return to the U.S.
The Supreme Court also said the district court that ordered Garcia’s return should clarify its directive for the executive branch, while the government should prepare to share what steps it has taken to follow the order.
The White House, which alleged without evidence Garcia was a cartel leader and said he would not return to the U.S., did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.
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Garcia, a full-time sheet metal apprentice with a wife and son who are both U.S. citizens, was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials nearly a month ago and flown to El Salvador days later. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said he was deported because of a “clerical error” after ICE Field Office Director Robert Cerna said in a sworn testimony Garcia’s deportation was “an error” and “an oversight.” Garcia was deported without legal justification, according to District Judge Paula Xinis, who ordered his return last week and noted Garcia was granted withholding of removal in 2019 after fleeing gang violence in El Salvador in 2011. Following Xinis’ order, the Trump administration continued accusing Garcia of being a member of the MS-13 gang and baselessly alleged he was involved in human trafficking. Garcia is one of several people deported to El Salvador on flights that were recently contested in court and later upheld by the Supreme Court. Dozens of migrants deported to El Salvador reportedly have no criminal records, according to a CBS News investigation, despite the Trump administration’s claims that all of those deported are members of Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
Photo Shows Deported Gay Makeup Artist Andry Hernandez Romero Pleading With Guards At El Salvador’s CECOT (Forbes)
Supreme Court Freezes Order Asking Trump Administration To Return Deported Maryland Man To U.S. (Forbes)
Judge Orders Trump Administration To Return Maryland Man Deported To El Salvador (Forbes)
