Trump Admin Pushes Back Against Supreme Court
The Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the administration must "facilitate" the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The Trump administration is resisting calls to bring back a Maryland man it deported illegally to El Salvador, arguing it has no legal duty to do so.
In a court filing Sunday, Justice Department attorneys claimed a recent Supreme Court ruling only requires the government to allow Kilmar Abrego Garcia back into the U.S. if he is released from prison in El Salvador and returns on his own.
The administration insists it is not obligated to negotiate his return or take any further action beyond adjusting his immigration status should he make it back.
Abrego Garcia, who entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and was living in Maryland, was deported in defiance of a 2019 immigration court ruling that barred his removal due to threats from a violent gang in El Salvador.
Though denied asylum, a judge determined that returning him would place him at risk of persecution. Now held in the CECOT high-security prison, Abrego Garcia's case has drawn scrutiny after the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the administration must "facilitate" his release—language the Justice Department interprets narrowly.
With Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele in Washington for a scheduled meeting with President Trump, tensions are mounting between the judiciary and the executive branch.
DOJ lawyers told U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis that any attempt to compel diplomatic engagement with El Salvador would intrude on the president’s exclusive authority to manage foreign affairs. They argued that court-ordered negotiations would amount to unconstitutional interference and a breach of another nation's sovereignty.
The administration has also failed to comply with Judge Xinis’s order to provide daily updates on efforts to return Abrego Garcia, repeatedly submitting reports stating there is “no update.”
Officials have rebuffed demands from Abrego Garcia’s legal team to explain the deportation arrangement with El Salvador, citing classified information and national security concerns. As a court hearing looms, the administration’s narrow reading of the Supreme Court ruling is setting up a broader legal clash over the limits of executive power and the courts’ role in immigration enforcement.
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