In a landmark decision underscoring judicial limits on executive immigration powers, the U.S. Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court’s directive that federal authorities must return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident, who was wrongfully deported to El Salvador in March 2025.
Abrego Garcia, who had been living legally in the U.S. for over a decade, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while commuting home from work on March 12. Despite being granted “withholding of removal” status in 2019—protection awarded by the Board of Immigration Appeals due to credible threats from the Salvadoran gang “Barrio 18”—he was mistakenly deported due to what the Department of Justice later described as an “administrative error.”
Upon arrival in El Salvador, Garcia was imprisoned in the controversial Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a facility known for harsh conditions and widespread allegations of human rights violations.
The Department of Justice sought to block a U.S. District Court ruling from Maryland issued on April 6, 2025, which ordered Garcia’s return. However, in an unsigned but unanimous Supreme Court decision issued Thursday, Justice Sonia Sotomayor criticized the government’s lack of legal justification for Garcia’s arrest and removal.
“To this day, the Government has cited no basis in law for Abrego Garcia’s warrantless arrest, his removal to El Salvador, or his confinement in a Salvadoran prison. Nor could it,” she wrote. Justices Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson joined in the opinion.
The government had argued that federal courts lose jurisdiction to intervene in such cases once the individual has been deported. Sotomayor rejected this logic, warning that accepting such a position would grant the executive unchecked power to deport anyone—even U.S. citizens—without recourse: “…so long as it does so before a court can intervene.”
While the Trump administration has defended the deportation on grounds that Garcia is allegedly affiliated with MS-13—an accusation he denies—no formal evidence has been presented publicly to support the claim. President Trump said on Friday that his administration “would follow the Court’s order,” according to reporting by Reuters (April 12, 2025).
As of this writing, no timeline has been provided by federal authorities for Garcia’s return. Legal experts say the case could set precedent for future disputes over the reach of executive power in immigration enforcement and post-deportation remedies.
Key Sources & References:
- Jurist.org – Reporting by Sofia Jenkins, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
- Reuters, April 12, 2025
- Vox, April 12, 2025
- WWAY TV3, April 12, 2025
- Colorado AFL-CIO Press Release, April 2025
U.S. Supreme Court Building Picture on Wikimedia by The US Capitol CC-BY-SA-4-0
