The Supreme Court has ordered that President Donald Trump’s administration “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported on March 15 to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador known for human rights abuses.
The justices backed a lower-court order, sending the case back to the judge who ordered Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release and return to the U.S. However, the high court did not provide a deadline for when Abrego Garcia should be returned.
The judge’s order “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court ruled on Thursday. There was no noted dissent.
The court added that the Trump administration should be prepared to “share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”
Abrego Garcia was reportedly arrested in front of his 5-year-old son, who is autistic and nonverbal, and his wife only learned where he had been deported after seeing a propaganda video produced by El Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele that showed her husband and other detainees being manhandled by El Salvadoran law enforcement. Abrego Garcia’s wife and son are both citizens. He was legally granted protection from deportation after immigration officials claimed in 2019 that an informant had named Abrego Garcia as a member of the gang MS-13. His lawyer called the allegations of gang affiliation false, and previously directed The Atlantic to records of the incident in which the police officers who initially detained him were unable to find any reliable evidence to link Abrego Garcia to MS-13. Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said he has no criminal record in the U.S. or any other country.
This is a developing story.
From Rolling Stone US
