US Supreme Court Freezes Order to Repatriate Deportee in Administrative Error Case
The U.S. Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court’s ruling that required the return of a Salvadoran man deported due to an “administrative error,” following an emergency request from the Trump administration.
Chief Justice John Roberts approved the request to pause the ruling, which had set a midnight Monday deadline for Kilmar Abrego Garcia to be returned to the United States. Garcia, 29, was deported to El Salvador on March 15, a move the U.S. government has acknowledged as a mistake. However, officials have also claimed that Garcia is linked to the MS-13 gang, a charge his lawyer vehemently denies.
The Trump administration’s appeal to the Supreme Court argued that the Maryland-based judge who issued the ruling did not have the authority to do so and emphasized that the U.S. cannot compel the sovereign nation of El Salvador to follow a federal court’s order.
“The United States cannot dictate to El Salvador, nor can it force the country to comply with the demands of a U.S. federal judge,” stated U.S. Solicitor General D John Sauer in court filings. He further argued that the president, not federal courts, is responsible for conducting foreign diplomacy and safeguarding national security, including removing foreign nationals associated with terrorism.
Currently, Garcia is detained in El Salvador’s high-security Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), alongside hundreds of others deported for alleged gang or criminal activity. His wife, U.S. citizen Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has called for his release.
Despite a 2019 ruling granting Garcia protection from deportation, he was still removed. Garcia’s family lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, described his deportation as “equivalent to forcible expulsion.”
The judge who initially ordered Garcia’s return, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, later ruled that Garcia’s detention was unlawful and that the government acted without proper authority.
The Supreme Court’s decision to block the return order came just hours before the deadline, which the Trump administration had called “impossible” to meet. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi confirmed that the government lawyer involved, Erez Reuveni, had been placed on paid leave following his handling of the case.
