In a major setback to the Trump administration, the US Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the return of a Salvadoran man who was wrongly deported in a key immigration case.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, had been living in Maryland before being deported to El Salvador last month. He was among over 200 people sent back as part of President Donald Trump’s crackdown on undocumented migrants.
Most of those deported were suspected members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has labelled a foreign terrorist group. However, officials later admitted that Abrego Garcia — who is married to a US citizen — was deported by mistake.
The Supreme Court has now ordered the government to help secure his release from custody in El Salvador and to handle his case as if he had never been deported.
Living in the US under protected legal status
Abrego Garcia had been living in the US since 2019 under Protected Legal Status. This led the judge to rule that he shouldn’t be deported because he might face harm in his home country.
After he was deported and sent to the well-known CECOT prison, lower courts ordered the US government to bring him back to the United States.
Just hours before the deadline for his return, the Supreme Court paused the order after the government requested an emergency ruling.
Garcia is part of Salvadoran gang MS-13: US govt
The government claimed that Abrego Garcia is part of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, but the lower courts said there wasn’t enough evidence to support that.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsThe US government also argued that it no longer had the authority to release Abrego Garcia since he was already in El Salvador. It called the lower courts’ orders “unprecedented and indefensible,” claiming they were effectively asking the US to let a member of a foreign terrorist group into the country that night.
“We’re confident that the people in CECOT belong there and should stay there for life,” said Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem on Wednesday, Axios reported.