Trump admin ‘not required’ to help wrongly deported man
US officials said on Sunday that they were not obligated to help a Maryland resident get out of prison in El Salvador after he was erroneously deported.
Attorneys for the administration of President Donald Trump said in a legal filing that the Supreme Court ordered them to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. They saw that as “remov[ing] any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede the alien’s ability to return here,” not help extract him from El Salvador.
Work permit
The Trump administration has acknowledged that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland and has had a work permit since 2019, was deported in March in violation of an immigration judge’s order blocking his removal to El Salvador.
US District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the US government to bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States on April 4.
But a top US immigration official said in another filing on Sunday that the order barring Abrego Garcia’s removal to El Salvador was no longer valid “because of his membership in MS-13 which is now a designated foreign terrorist organization.”
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
‘Alive, secure’
On Saturday, the State Department said he was “alive and secure” in a terrorism confinement center in El Salvador, in response to Xinis’ order for daily updates on the Trump administration’s efforts to secure his return.
Trump was due to meet El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele at the White House on Monday. Trump told reporters on Friday that his administration would bring Abrego Garcia back if the Supreme Court directed it to.
