Supreme Court stay in key deportation case favors Trump

Chief Justice John Roberts on Monday issued a temporary stay of a lower court’s ruling that the U.S. government had to retrieve a Maryland man by midnight Monday. Abrego Garcia’s case awaits further orders of the Supreme Court — Roberts ordered the man’s lawyers to file a response to the Trump administration by 5 p.m. Tuesday.

The Justice Department earlier admitted it wrongfully deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia due to an administrative error. However, it also contended that he still was an MS-13 gang member and that it could not bring him back from a foreign nation’s custody.

Federal district judge Paula Xinis issued the original ruling in favor of Abrego Garcia, who had lived in the United States with legally protected status for years until the government deported him to El Salvador last month. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va. on Monday agreed with Xinis’ ruling, so the Justice Department sent an emergency appeal to Roberts.

Why was Abrego Garcia’s deportation an error? A 2019 immigration court ruling said he could not be deported to El Salvador because he faced threats from gangs there, the Associated Press reported. His attorney also stated that there’s no evidence he was involved in MS-13, though the White House repeatedly has said the opposite.

Dig deeper: Read my report on how the Justice Department suspended its lawyer for admitting error in Abrego Garcia’s case.