SCOTUS Orders Return of Man Mistakenly Deported to El Salvadoran Prison

The unanimous ruling rebukes the Trump administration’s handling of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation, calling for his return while spotlighting tensions over executive power in immigration cases.

The Supreme Court of the United States, via Jimmy Woo on Unsplash

The Supreme Court has ordered the Trump administration to help return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador last month.

Abrego Garcia was flown to a maximum-security prison as part of a mass deportation effort and detained at a facility where the U.S. pays for space to hold deportees. Trump officials argue the courts have no power to reverse the deportation—but the justices unanimously disagreed.

Justices Unite, Criticize Oversight

In a rare, unanimous emergency order, the Supreme Court instructed the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Abrego Garcia. Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, sharply rebuked the administration’s handling of the case:

“Instead of hastening to correct its egregious error, the Government dismissed it as an ‘oversight’. The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.”

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