U.S. Supreme Court: Trump administration to facilitate return of Salvadoran man wrongfully deported
John Kruzel and Andrew Chung for Reuters report that the U.S. Supreme Court yesterday directed the Trump administration to facilitate the return to the United States of a Salvadoran man who the government has admitted was deported in error to El Salvador.
The Court ruling rejected the government’s request to reverse a district court order requiring the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. “The judge had issued the order in response to a lawsuit filed by Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland and has had a work permit since 2019, and his family challenging the legality of his deportation.”
Here is the Supreme Court’s order. “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,” the Court ruled.
Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, issued a statement on the ruling. The statement emphasizes that Abrego had due process rights. The statement ended as follows: “In the proceedings on remand, the District Court should continue to ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.”
For Nina Totenberg’s perspective on the Supreme Court’s ruling, see
Reuters quotes a Justice Department spokesperson on the Court’s ruling, saying that it recognized that it is “the exclusive prerogative of the president to conduct foreign affairs.” “By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the president’s authority to conduct foreign policy,” the spokesperson said.
UPDATE (Apr. 11); For commentary on the Supreme Court’s ruling, click here.
KJ
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