The US Supreme Court on Monday temporarily halted a judge’s order requiring US President Donald Trump’s administration to return by the end of the day a Salvadoran man who the government has acknowledged was deported in error to El Salvador.
Chief Justice John Roberts, acting on behalf of the court, paused an order by US District Judge Paula Xinis that the administration return Kilmar Abrego Garcia by the end of Monday, in response to a lawsuit filed by the man and his family challenging the legality of his deportation.
The court’s action, called an administrative stay, gives the justices additional time to consider the administration’s more formal request to block the judge’s order while litigation in the case continues.
Earlier on Monday, the Richmond, Virginia-based 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals denied the administration’s request to freeze the judge’s order.
Xinis found that the US government had no lawful authority to detain and deport Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant who lived in Maryland legally with a work permit, and ordered his return by 11.59pm on Monday. He was deported on March 15 on one of three high-profile deportation flights to El Salvador that also included alleged Venezuelan gang members.
The Justice Department in its Supreme Court filing stated that while Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador through “administrative error”, his actual removal from the United States “was not error”.