by JESSICA A. BOTELHO | The National Desk
Mon, April 7th 2025 at 4:18 PM
Updated Mon, April 7th 2025 at 4:48 PM
This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP)
WASHINGTON (TNND) — The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily blocked an order to return a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador last week.
Chief Justice John Roberts said U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis overstepped her authority when she ordered Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia be returned to the U.S.
The Trump administration said Abrego Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador because an immigration judge found he likely would face persecution by local gangs.
But he is no longer in U.S. custody and the government has no way to get him back, the administration argued.
Xinis gave the administration until just before midnight to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return.
The district court’s injunction — which requires Abrego Garcia’s release from the custody of a foreign sovereign and return to the United States by midnight on Monday — is patently unlawful,” Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court papers.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously said Abrego Garcia’s deportation was an “administrative error.”
Leavitt also while the mainstream media has portrayed Abrego Garcia as a family man, that’s not the case. She said “The Atlantic” and other outlets made him out to be “father of the year,” but added that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The administration maintains the position that this individual, who was deported to El Salvador — will not be returning to our country, was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang. That is fact number one,” Leavitt told reporters during a recent news conference at the White House.
Fact number two — we also have credible intelligence proving that this individual was involved in human trafficking. And fact number three — this individual was a member, actually a leader, of the brutal MS-13 gang, which this president has designated as a foreign terrorist organization. Fact number four — is that foreign terrorists do not have legal protections in the United States of America anymore, and it is within the president’s executive authority and power to deport these heinous individuals from American communities. It is a promise he campaigned on, it is a promise he is keeping, and every single person in the room should be grateful for that, considering especially MS-13 is very prevalent and prominent here in the District of Columbia, in Maryland and in Virginia,” she added.
Leavitt also said Trump is focused on eradicating MS-13 gang members from the U.S.
Attorneys for Abrego Garcia said there is no evidence their client was in MS-13.
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EDITOR’S NOTE: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
