US Supreme Court orders return of man wrongfully deported to El Salvador

The United States Supreme Court has ruled unanimously that the federal government must assist in bringing back a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, where he is currently imprisoned in the country's high-security facility for suspected gang members.

In a 9-0 decision delivered on Thursday, the Court rejected the Trump administration’s effort to overturn a lower court directive mandating the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The Supreme Court emphasized that the order compels the government to facilitate Garcia’s release and ensure his immigration proceedings continue as if the wrongful deportation had never occurred.

Garcia, 29, entered the U.S. as a teenager from El Salvador and was apprehended in Maryland in 2019 by federal immigration agents alongside three others. Despite an immigration judge later granting him protection from removal due to credible threats from gangs in his home country, Garcia was mistakenly deported on March 15 due to what officials described as an “administrative error.”

He is now being held in El Salvador’s Cecot prison—an infamous maximum-security complex known for detaining alleged gang members, including many recently deported from the United States.

Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, has been advocating for his return. According to reports, Garcia was employed as a sheet metal worker prior to his arrest on March 12.

On April 4, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration to take necessary actions to bring Garcia back to the United States. The government, while acknowledging the error, also accused Garcia of having ties to the MS-13 gang—an allegation his attorney strongly refutes.

In an emergency filing, Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the judge’s order overstepped judicial boundaries, contending that U.S. courts cannot direct a foreign sovereign nation such as El Salvador to comply with U.S. judicial rulings. He further maintained that foreign affairs and national security, including deportations involving potential security risks, fall under the President’s authority—not that of district courts.

Although the Supreme Court initially paused the lower court's order earlier in the week to evaluate the appeal, it has now cleared the way for efforts to return Garcia to the U.S. and resume proper legal proceedings.