WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� Chief Justice John Roberts agreed Monday to pause a midnight deadline for the Trump administration to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador.
The temporary order comes hours after a Justice Department emergency appeal to the Supreme Court arguing U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis overstepped her authority when she ordered returned to the United States.
The administration has conceded that Abrego Garcia should not have been sent to El Salvador because an immigration judge found he likely would face persecution by local gangs.
But he is no longer in U.S. custody and the government has no way to get him back, the administration argued.
Xinis gave the administration until just before midnight to 鈥渇acilitate and effectuate鈥� Abrego Garcia鈥檚 return.
鈥淭he district court鈥檚 injunction鈥攚hich requires Abrego Garcia鈥檚 release from the custody of a foreign sovereign and return to the United States by midnight on Monday鈥攊s patently unlawful,鈥� Solicitor General D. John Sauer wrote in court papers, casting the order as one in 鈥渁 deluge of unlawful injunctions鈥� judges have issued to slow President Donald Trump's agenda.
The Justice Department appeal was directed to Roberts because he handles appeals from Maryland.
The Trump administration is separately asking the Supreme Court to allow Trump to resume deportations of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members to the same Salvadoran prison under an 18th century wartime law.
The federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia, denied the administration's request for a stay. 鈥淭here is no question that the government screwed up here,鈥� Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote in a brief opinion accompanying the unanimous denial.
The White House has described Abrego Garcia鈥檚 deportation as an 鈥渁dministrative error鈥� but has also cast him an MS-13 gang member. Attorneys for Abrego Garcia said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.
鈥淭he Executive branch may not seize individuals from the streets, deposit them in foreign prisons in violation of court orders, and then invoke the separation of powers to insulate its unlawful actions from judicial scrutiny,鈥� Abrego Garcia鈥檚 lawyers wrote in a response filed moments after Roberts issued his temporary pause.
Xinis wrote that the decision to arrest him and send him to El Salvador appears to be 鈥渨holly lawless,鈥� explaining that little to no evidence supports a 鈥渧ague, uncorroborated鈥� allegation that was once an MS-13 member.
, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who has never been charged or convicted of any crime, was detained by immigration agents and deported last month.
He had a permit from DHS to legally work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.
In 2019, an immigration judge barred the U.S. from deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador.
A Justice Department lawyer conceded in a court hearing that Abrego Garcia should not have been deported. Attorney General later removed the lawyer, Erez Reuveni, from the case and placed him on leave.
Mark Sherman, The Associated Press
