The Trump administration must “take all available steps to facilitate the return” of a man wrongfully deported to El Salvador, a federal judge ruled Friday.
“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,” Maryland District Court Judge Paula Xinis wrote.
Xinis called an in-person status conference for Friday afternoon—a progress report to ascertain where Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is and what his custodial status is. The conference will also seek to determine what Trump and his team have done—and plan to do—to get him home.
Department of Justice lawyers want the deadline changed to Wednesday, April 16—two days after a U.S. visit by the El Salvadorian president. The request has not been granted.
The ruling comes on the heels of a Supreme Court ruling Thursday declaring that the Trump administration must take steps to bring Garcia home.
The Supreme Court requested that Xinis “clarify” her earlier order “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,” Sotomayor wrote.
The 29-year-old was accused of being a member of the MS-13 gang and deported. The government admitted this was in error, but the father was sent to a mega prison in El Salvador.
Trump and his team then tried to wash their hands of the matter, stating that Garcia was no longer their problem because he was outside the U.S.
The Supreme Court, however, unanimously defied Trump in the ruling Thursday.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor rejected the administration’s argument that it couldn’t be held accountable for Garcia because he was no longer in the country as “plainly wrong.”
The case now goes back to Xinis’ trial court. Ahead of the trial, Sotomayor appealed to her colleague to “continue to ensure that the government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.”
A Department of Justice spokesperson said in a statement that “this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”
Garcia is a sheet metal worker who has a permit to work in the U.S. His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is a U.S. citizen.
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