The United States Supreme Court has mandated the government to “facilitate” the return of a Salvadoran man who was wrongfully deported, marking a minor victory against President Donald Trump’s immigration policies.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, resided in Maryland until he was among over 200 individuals deported to a prison in El Salvador last month as part of Trump’s initiative to crack down on undocumented immigrants.
The majority of those deported were alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which the Trump administration has classified as a “foreign terrorist organization.”
However, attorneys from the Justice Department later acknowledged that Garcia, who is married to a U.S. citizen, was deported due to an “administrative error.”
In a ruling released on Thursday, the Supreme Court, which has a conservative majority, instructed the government to “facilitate” Garcia’s release from the El Salvador prison and to ensure that his case is processed as if he had not been wrongfully sent to El Salvador.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, Garcia’s attorney, praised the court’s decision, stating that “the rule of law prevailed.”
Garcia had been living in the United States under protected legal status since 2019, following a judge’s ruling that he should not be deported due to the potential danger he faced in his home country.
After his deportation and subsequent detention in the infamous CECOT counterterrorism facility, lower courts had ordered the U.S. government to return him by midnight on Monday.
The Supreme Court temporarily suspended that order just hours before the deadline, in response to a request for an emergency ruling from the administration.
