WASHINGTON (AP) — On Monday, the Trump administration requested that the Supreme Court intervene to prevent a court order that mandates the return of a Maryland man who was deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
The Justice Department contended in an urgent appeal to the justices that U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis exceeded her authority by ordering Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be brought back to the United States.
WATCH: The Trump administration increases deportations to El Salvador amid legal disputes with the judiciary.
The administration has acknowledged that Abrego Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador, as an immigration judge determined he would likely face persecution from local gangs.
However, they claimed that since he is no longer in U.S. custody, there is no means for the government to retrieve him.
Xinis provided the administration until just before midnight Tuesday to “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Abrego Garcia.
“The district court’s injunction—which mandates Abrego Garcia’s release from a foreign sovereign’s custody and his return to the U.S. by midnight on Monday—is clearly unlawful,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer stated in court documents.
The federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, rejected the administration’s request for a stay. “There is no doubt that the government made a mistake here,” Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson noted in a brief opinion that accompanied the unanimous denial.
The White House characterized Abrego Garcia’s deportation as an “administrative error,” but has also branded him as an MS-13 gang member. Attorneys representing Abrego Garcia maintained that there is no evidence linking him to MS-13.
Xinis affirmed that the decision to detain him and deport him to El Salvador appears to be “entirely lawless,” pointing out that there is little to no evidence supporting a “vague, uncorroborated” claim that Abrego Garcia was ever an MS-13 member.
Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old national from El Salvador, has never been charged or convicted of any crime and was detained by immigration agents and deported last month.
According to his attorney, he held a permit from DHS that allowed him to work legally in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice aiming for a journeyman license. His spouse is a U.S. citizen.
In 2019, an immigration judge prohibited the U.S. from deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.
A Justice Department attorney admitted during a court hearing that Abrego Garcia should not have been deported. Subsequently, Attorney General Pam Bondi removed the attorney, Erez Reuveni, from the case and placed him on leave.
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