Judge orders Trump administration to advise its steps to return wrongly deported Salvadoran man

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By Blake Brittain and Tom Hals

GREENBELT, Maryland (Reuters) -The Trump administration must explain to a federal court without delay what it is doing to facilitate the return of a Maryland resident it illegally deported to El Salvador, a federal judge ordered on Friday.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis set a hearing for 1 p.m. ET (1700 GMT), rejecting an administration request to give it until Tuesday afternoon to identify the location of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was sent to El Salvador on March 15.

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The administration said in a Friday court filing it was “unreasonable and impracticable” to say what its next steps are before they are properly agreed upon and vetted. “Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review,” the filing said.

Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who was living in Maryland and has had a work permit since 2019, was stopped and detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on March 12 and questioned about alleged gang affiliation. He was deported on March 15 on one of three high-profile deportation flights to El Salvador that also included alleged Venezuelan gang members.

On Thursday the U.S. Supreme Court said the Trump administration must take steps to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and detail the steps it has taken and will take to return him to the United States.

The ruling also said the lower court should clarify its order “with due regard for deference” to the executive branch of government.

In response, the White House referred to an earlier Justice Department statement which said activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the president’s authority to conduct foreign policy.

Judge Xinis, based in Greenbelt, Maryland, asked that the administration explain what has been done to return Abrego Garcia and offer a timeline for returning him to the U.S. She said its request to delay the hearing to review the four-page Supreme Court order “blinks at reality.”

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said in a Friday court filing “the government continues to delay, obfuscate, and flout court orders, while a man’s life and safety is at risk.”

The case highlights the administration’s tensions with federal courts. Several have blocked Trump policies and judges have expressed frustration with administration efforts to comply with court orders.

Abrego Garcia’s family sued to challenge the legality of his deportation and on April 4 Xinis ordered the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” his return. The administration challenged that order at the Supreme Court, which upheld Xinis’ order but said the term “effectuate” is unclear and may exceed the court’s authority.

The Justice Department in a Supreme Court filing on April 7 stated that while Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador through “administrative error,” his actual removal from the United States “was not error.” The error, department lawyers wrote, was in removing him specifically to El Salvador despite the deportation protection order.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Howard Goller)

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