US officials said Sunday they aren’t required to help a Maryland resident return from prison in El Salvador, despite a Supreme Court ruling telling them to “facilitate” the return.
Trump administration lawyers argued that “facilitate” means removing domestic barriers, not assisting extraction from El Salvador.
The administration admitted Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who had a US work permit since 2019, was wrongly deported in March despite a judge’s order blocking it.
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US District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the government to bring Abrego Garcia back by April 4. The Supreme Court rejected efforts to overturn that ruling.
On Sunday, a top immigration official said the deportation block no longer applies “because of his membership in MS-13 which is now a designated foreign terrorist organization.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys have not commented.
On Saturday, the State Department said he is “alive and secure” in a terrorism confinement center in El Salvador. Judge Xinis had ordered daily updates.
Trump is meeting El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele on Monday. On Friday, Trump said he would return Abrego Garcia “if the Supreme Court directed it to.”
Government lawyers urged Judge Xinis to deny further requests for information, warning “such discovery could interfere with ongoing diplomatic discussions.”
(Reuters)
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