Trump Admin Must ‘facilitate’ Return Of Man Erroneously Deported To El Salvador, Supreme Court Says

The Supreme Court is requiring the Trump administration to “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man deported last month to a notorious prison in El Salvador due to what officials described as an “administrative error.”

The justices turned down the administration’s request to set aside a judge’s order that U.S. officials seek Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s release and return to the U.S., after he was flown to El Salvador despite an immigration-court order that he not be sent there due to the threat of persecution by a local gang.

The judge’s order “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the Supreme Court ruled Thursday, without any noted dissent.

The ruling is a significant rejection of the Trump administration’s claim that it lacked any power — and therefore could not be compelled — to attempt to remedy its admitted error. It also comes just days after the justices ruled that the administration must provide due process to other foreign nationals that President Donald Trump has sought to quickly deport using rarely invoked war powers.