Supreme Court backs wrongly deported migrant

What happened

The Supreme Court Thursday night unanimously ruled that the Trump administration must work to "facilitate" but not necessarily "effectuate" the return of Kilmar Ábrego García, a Salvadoran man erroneously deported to a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador last month alongside hundreds of Venezuelan alleged gang members.

Who said what

The unsigned ruling was a "significant rejection of the Trump administration's claim that it lacked any power — and therefore could not be compelled — to attempt to remedy its admitted error" in deporting Ábrego García, Politico said. It "doesn't explicitly mention" bringing him back, but it "leaves in place the bulk of U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis' order that specifically required his 'return' to the United States."

Xinis "properly" required the government to "'facilitate' Ábrego García's release from custody in El Salvador," but her "intended scope of the term 'effectuate'" was "unclear and may exceed the district court's authority," the Supreme Court said. Justice Sonia Sotomayor suggested in a concurring statement, joined by her two liberal colleagues, that she would have compelled the administration to "correct its egregious error" and refuted its implication it "could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

What next?

The Supreme Court's ruling "does not mean Ábrego García will be returned immediately," The Washington Post said. The justices sent the case back to Xinis to "clarify" her "directive, with due regard for the deference owed" the president in "the conduct of foreign affairs," and ordered the government to "share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps."