The White House responded to the ruling of the Supreme Court that states that the Trump administration must “facilitate” the return of a Maryland man deported by mistake to El Salvador.
“The Supreme Court made it very clear in its ruling that it is the responsibility of the administration to facilitate the return, not to make it effective,” said Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.
While the official informed the press, the federal judge in charge of the case in a lower court lashed out against the Department of Justice for refusing to fulfill her order to obtain more information about Kilmer Ábrego García, the deported.
In a publication on social platform X, where a fragment of Leavitt’s response was shared, the White House referred to man as a “member of the MS-13 gang deported and trafficker of people”.
“As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, the conduct of foreign affairs is the exclusive prerogative of the president. By directly pointing out the deference due to the Executive Power, this ruling once again illustrates that the activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to appropriate the president’s authority to direct foreign policy,” said a spokesman for the Department of Justice.
But for Abrego García’s lawyer, “the rule of law prevailed.” “The Supreme Court confirmed the order of the district judge that the Government must bring Killmar back home. Now they must stop wasting time and get in motion,” he said.
The discrepancy quickly reached a critical point when the case returned to federal judge Paula Xinis on Friday.
The Government refused to meet the judge’s demand to deliver an immediate update on the state of Ábrego García and the measures he has taken for his return.
“We read the order of the Supreme Court differently,” Trump’s deputy attorney general, Drew Design told the judge. He said that the government was still considering what information could be provided to Xinis after the ruling of the Superior Court, but rejected the idea that the judge can advance.
According to press reports, Xinis was visibly frustrated, and at one point he said he was “very concerned” about the negative. “I’m asking where a man is,” he emphasized.
The ruling of the Supreme Court confirmed Xinis’s demand that the government “facilitates” García’s liberation. However, the judges warned that their authority has a limited reach and that it might not be able to achieve the return of man.
The government has clung to that part, as well as an instruction for Xinis to have “due consideration due to the Executive Power in the conduct of foreign affairs”, to present the decision as a victory.
“The Supreme Court rejected the decision of the lower court and made it clear that a district judge cannot exercise the powers of article II in foreign matters,” wrote Stephen Miller, a White House cabinet deputy. “The illegal immigrant terrorist is under custody and control of a sovereign foreign nation,” Miller continued.
“Unjust deportations occur from time to time. And when the government realizes that it has done so, it normally facilitates the return,” said Sandoval-Moshenberg, the lawyer of Ábrego García.
The Hispanic Caucus of Congress wrote to the president of El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, a letter demanding his release and requesting to visit him at the Center for Prison of El Salvador terrorism (CECOT).
