Despite acknowledging that Garcia’s deportation was a mistake, the Trump administration had sought to withstand a lower court’s directive to return him to the US. However, the Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, chose not to obstruct the lower court’s ruling.
The ruling from the Supreme Court will keep the lower court’s mandate in place, instructing government officials to ‘facilitate’ Garcia’s release and treat his case as it would have been handled if not for the wrongful deportation.
Garcia, 29, originally from El Salvador, had entered the US unofficially during his teenage years. In 2019, he and three other men were arrested in Maryland and detained by immigration authorities. Despite gang allegations, an immigration judge initially protected him from deportation due to potential persecution in his homeland.
Garcia is presently held at the Cecot, El Salvador’s maximum-security prison, with numerous other individuals deported by the US on criminal or gang-related charges. His US-citizen wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, advocates for his release. He was reportedly employed as a sheet metal worker before his March 12 detainment.
Judge Paula Xinis of the Maryland federal court initially commanded the Trump administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Garcia’s return on April 4. Although the government attributes the deportation to an “administrative error,” they also claim Garcia is affiliated with the MS-13 gang, a charge his lawyer disputes.
The government, in a emergency appeal to the Supreme Court, contended that Maryland’s judge lacked the authority to issue the return order and that US officials could not enforce such a mandate on El Salvador.
US Solicitor General D John Sauer’s emergency court submission read, “The United States cannot control El Salvador nor can it obligate the country to adhere to a federal judge’s decree.”
Suer added, “The Constitution empowers the president, not federal district courts, with foreign diplomatic matters and protection against foreign terrorism, including through the expulsion of individuals deemed threats.”
Temporarily, the Supreme Court paused the lower court’s order as it contemplates the issue.
