The U.S. Supreme Court has unanimously ruled that the Trump administration must facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident and Salvadoran citizen who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March 2025. Despite a 2019 immigration court order protecting him from removal due to the threat of gang persecution, Abrego Garcia was deported and is currently detained in El Salvador’s maximum-security prison, CECOT.
The administration acknowledged the deportation as an “administrative error” but argued that U.S. courts lack the authority to compel his return from a foreign prison. The Supreme Court rejected this argument, directing the administration to take steps to bring Abrego Garcia back and to report on the actions taken.
The Court’s ruling reads in part: “The 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.”
As Mediaite reports:
The 9-0 ruling requires the administration to comply with an earlier lower court order.
Lawyers for the administration admitted that Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father of three, was deported by mistake. Nonetheless, they maintained there was nothing the administration could do to bring him back to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national who was arrested in Baltimore on March 12 shortly after leaving his job as a sheet metal worker to pick up his five-year-old son. Previously, the government alleged that Abrego Garcia was in the notorious MS-13 gang. However, in a court filing last week, lawyers for U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement said he had been mistakenly deported because of an “administrative error.”
Last week, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to arrange his return.
“The record reflects that Abrego Garcia was apprehended in Maryland without legal basis … and without further process or legal justification was removed to El Salvador,” Xinis wrote in her order.
Garcia, who has never been charged with a crime, is married to a U.S. citizen and has a child with special needs. His lawyers deny allegations of gang affiliation and argue that his continued detention is unjustified.
This is a breaking news story. Please check back for updates.
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Well maybe this is a special case and he should be brought back.
I thought they had already done this !