Chief justice pauses order to return wrongfully deported man

Greg Stohr, Bloomberg News on Apr 7, 2025

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WASHINGTON — The U.S. chief justice paused an order requiring President Donald Trump’s administration to bring back a Maryland man who immigration officials conceded was wrongly deported to a notorious prison in his native El Salvador.

The administrative stay from Chief Justice John Roberts gives the Supreme Court more time to decide how to handle the case. Previously, the U.S. had until 11:59 p.m. Eastern time Monday to “facilitate and effectuate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, under U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s order.

The case is the latest flashpoint as Trump asserts sweeping deportation power with minimal judicial oversight. The Supreme Court is also weighing the administration’s request to resume deporting alleged Venezuelan gang members under a wartime law – potentially without giving people a chance to go before a judge.

As is the court’s practice, Roberts didn’t provide an explanation for his stay order and said it will apply “pending further order of the undersigned or of the court.”

The order comes hours after a three-judge federal appeals court panel unanimously refused to lift Xinis’ deadline.

The government “has no legal authority to snatch a person who is lawfully present in the United States off the street and remove him from the country without due process,” Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker wrote for two of the three judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Monday. “The government’s contention otherwise, and its argument that the federal courts are powerless to intervene, are unconscionable.”

The Justice Department, which says Abrego Garcia was flown to El Salvador because of an “administrative error,” contends it no longer has any legal authority over him.

“The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding,” U.S. Solicitor General John Sauer told the Supreme Court.

Abrego Garcia’s lawyers said he was the victim of a “Kafkaesque mistake” by the government.

“There is no dispute that Abrego Garcia is only in El Salvador because the United States sent him there,” his lawyers argued. “There is likewise no dispute that he is being held only because the United States has requested that he be held.”

Roberts signaled the Supreme Court is likely to move quickly in the case, asking Abrego Garcia to file a response by Tuesday at 5 p.m. By the time Roberts issued his order, Abrego Garcia’s lawyers had already filed their brief.

Roberts handles emergency requests involving the 4th Circuit. In all likelihood, he will now refer the matter to the full nine-member court.

Abrego Garcia had been lawfully living in Maryland with his wife and young child, both U.S. citizens. A 2019 immigration court order said he could be deported — but not to El Salvador, where he says he would face gang-based extortion and persecution.

Immigration officials arrested Abrego Garcia March 12 and accused him of playing a “prominent role in MS-13,” though he hasn’t been convicted of a crime or charged with one. He was flown to El Salvador on March 15.

The case is Noem v. Abrego Garcia, 24A949.

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(With assistance from David Voreacos.)