GREENBELT, Md. — A federal judge directed the Trump administration to “take all available steps to facilitate the return” of a Maryland man who was mistakenly sent to a notorious El Salvador prison and set a status conference in the case for Friday.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ order comes after the U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that the Trump administration must work to bring back Kilmar Abrego Garcia, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal of her April 4 order for his return.
The Salvadoran citizen had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.
Acting on the heels of the Supreme Court ruling, Xinis directed the administration to file by Friday morning a declaration addressing Abrego Garcia’s location and custodial status and what steps the administration has taken and will take to facilitate his return. An in-person status conference was set for Friday afternoon.
The Supreme Court has issued a string of rulings on its emergency docket, where the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Trump amid a wave of lower court orders slowing the president’s sweeping agenda. In Thursday’s case, the court said Xinis’ order must be clarified to make sure it doesn’t intrude into executive branch power over foreign affairs, since Abrego Garcia is being held abroad.
“The 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 court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.
The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.
The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it. The court’s liberal justices said the administration should have hastened to correct “its egregious error” and was “plainly wrong” to suggest it could not bring him home.
Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal has been an “emotional rollercoaster” for their family and the entire community.
“I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at its end. I will continue fighting until my husband is home,” she said.
Xinis’ April 4 order said the government’s decision to arrest Abrego Garcia and send him to El Salvador appeared to be “wholly lawless.”
“There is little to no evidence to support a ‘vague, uncorroborated’ allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang,” the judge wrote.
The 29-year-old was detained by immigration agents and deported last month. He had a permit from the Homeland Security Department to legally work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.
