Trump govt pushes back against court order to return man mistakenly deported to El Salvador

The Trump administration has asked a federal appeals court to halt a judge’s order that directed the US government to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador — a country where he now sits in a notorious prison. The

US Justice Department

argued Saturday that the judiciary lacks the authority to compel the executive branch to engage with foreign governments in such matters.
“A judicial order that forces the Executive to engage with a foreign power in a certain way, let alone compel a certain action by a foreign sovereign, is constitutionally intolerable,” the administration said in a filing to the 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
The filing came a day after US District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” the return of

Kilmar Abrego Garcia

by Monday night. The appeals court has asked Abrego Garcia’s attorneys to respond by Sunday.
Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national, was wrongly deported last month despite a 2019 immigration judge’s ruling protecting him from removal. He now remains detained in a prison in El Salvador known for severe human rights violations. The White House described the deportation as an “administrative error.”

Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni, who admitted in court on Friday that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was a mistake, has since been placed on leave. “At my direction, every Department of Justice attorney is required to zealously advocate on behalf of the United States. Any attorney who fails to abide by this direction will face consequences,” Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a statement.
During the hearing, Reuveni told the judge, “I’m also frustrated that I have no answers for you for a lot of these questions,” and could not clarify the legal basis for Abrego Garcia’s arrest.
Judge Xinis, appointed by former President Barack Obama, ruled there was no legal justification for Abrego Garcia’s arrest or removal. His attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, criticised the government’s inaction, saying: “Plenty of tweets. Plenty of White House press conferences. But no actual steps taken with the government of El Salvador to make it right.”
The White House has insisted Abrego Garcia is affiliated with the MS-13 gang, a claim his lawyers deny, asserting there is no evidence supporting that accusation. They maintain that Abrego Garcia had legal work authorization in the US , was employed as a sheet metal apprentice, and lived with his US citizen wife. He originally fled El Salvador in 2011 due to threats from gangs.
In its filing, the Justice Department claimed it has no power to compel El Salvador to return Abrego Garcia, comparing the court order to demands for resolving international conflicts: “It is an injunction to force a foreign sovereign to send back a foreign terrorist within three days’ time. That is no way to run a government. And it has no basis in American law.”