WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must facilitate the return of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.
The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia returned to the United States by midnight Monday. Chief Justice John Roberts paused Xinis’ order to give the court time to weigh the issue.
That deadline has now passed and the justices directed the judge to clarify her order, which called on the administration to “faciliate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
The high court also said the administration should be prepared to share what steps it already has taken and what it still might do.
The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.
The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, where he is being held in a notorious prison, but also argued that it no longer could do anything about it.
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