Kilmar Abrego Garcia is the most famous of the illegal immigrants whom the Trump administration has deported or attempted to deport. Garcia’s deportation was prioritized because he is, or is believed to be, a member of MS–13, a designated foreign terrorist organization. The administration sent him to El Salvador, but a district court judge in Maryland ordered that the government bring him back (“facilitate and effectuate the return of [Abrego Garcia] to the United States”). The government asked the Supreme Court to vacate that order.
That was the posture of the case when the Court issued its order on Thursday. The Court granted the government’s application in part and denied it in part. This is the relevant language:
The rest of the District Court’s order [apart from the court’s deadline, which had already passed] remains in effect but requires clarification on remand. 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 intended scope of the term “effectuate” in the District Court’s order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs. For its part, the Government should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.
This morning the President of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, was at the White House with President Trump. They spoke to reporters:
El Salvador President Nayib Bukele claimed Monday that he has no ability to send a Maryland man deported to the Central American country back to the US despite a US Supreme Court ruling directing the Trump administration to take “steps to facilitate” his return.
“I hope you are not suggesting that I smuggle terrorists into the United States,” Bukele told reporters while sitting alongside President Trump in the Oval Office. “Of course, I’m not going to do it.
“The question is preposterous,” Bukele added. “I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Good point! It would be illegal for Garcia to enter the United States, as it was when he came here the first time.
The government made an additional filing in the case yesterday; I am not sure of the context:
In a Sunday court filing, the administration argued that the Supreme Court’s ruling does not mean that the US is obligated to press El Salvador for Abrego Garcia’s release.
“Taking ‘all available steps to facilitate’ the return of Abrego Garcia is thus best read as taking all available steps to remove any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede the alien’s ability to return here,” DOJ lawyers wrote in a court filing Sunday.
“Indeed, no other reading of ‘facilitate’ is tenable—or constitutional—here.”
Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also commented:
Secretary of State Marco Rubio similarly stated that “the foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court.”
“That’s where you deport people — back to their country of origin,” he argued.
In my opinion, that should end the controversy. No one disputes that Abrego Garcia was here illegally, so why is there any debate? Why is there a lawsuit? People who are here illegally must and should be deported.
I am pretty sure that Abrego Garcia will never again enter the U.S. Will Democratic Party judges stop trying to micromanage the affairs of the Executive Branch, in real time? That remains to be seen. I think it may take an explicit order from the Supreme Court, telling them to back off.
