The Supreme Court has granted a request by President Donald Trump’s administration to block a lower court order requiring that a man deported to El Salvador be returned to the US.
Chief Justice John Roberts agreed to pause a ruling that Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be brought back by a deadline of midnight on Monday.
The government has said Mr Garcia was deported on 15 March due to an “administrative error”, although they also allege he is a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyer denies.
In its emergency appeal to America’s highest court, the administration argued the Maryland judge lacked authority to issue the order and that US officials cannot compel El Salvador to return Mr Garcia.
US Solicitor General D John Sauer wrote in his court filing to the highest court: “The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding.”
He added: “The Constitution charges the president, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal.”
Mr Garcia, 29, is being held at a maximum security prison in El Salvador known as the Terrorism Confinement Center (Cecot), along with hundreds of other men the US has deported over allegations of criminal and gang activity.
His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, is a US citizen and has called for his release.
Mr Garcia entered the US illegally as a teenager. A judge granted him protection from deportation in 2019.
The family’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, called Mr Garica’s deportation “the equivalent of a forcible expulsion”.
Last week, US District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee, grilled the Trump administration’s attorney during a hearing over the deportation.
Justice department lawyer Erez Reuveni told her that Mr Garcia “should not have been removed”.
Over the weekend, US Attorney General Pam Bondi announced Mr Reuveni – a 15-year veteran of the justice department – had been placed on paid administrative leave for failing to “zealously advocate on behalf of the United States”.
In her opinion released on Sunday, Judge Xinis found that the US government had acted “without any lawful authority” and was holding Mr Garcia “without legal basis” in “direct contravention” of US law.
The Trump administration escalated the case to a Maryland appeals court, which denied their request to stay Judge Xinis’ order.
The Supreme Court issued its ruling just hours ahead of the deadline to return Mr Garcia by 23:59 EDT on Monday night (03:59 GMT Tuesday).
The Trump administration had called that deadline “impossible”.
