Trump administration says it’s not required to bring back wrongly deported man

HOUSTON, United States

The Trump administration announced Sunday that it does not have to abide by a US Supreme Court order to work with officials in El Salvador to return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran prison.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to his native country on March 15 along with hundreds of other alleged Salvadoran and Venezuelan gang members, even though a previous court order from a separate case barred him from being removed from the US.

The Department of Justice (DOJ) admitted that it made an error in deporting Abrego Garcia but claimed it did not have the authority to bring him back because he was now in the custody of another country.

After a series of legal wranglings in federal court, the nation's highest court stepped in last week and ordered the Trump administration to give details on Abrego Garcia's status to have him returned to the United States.

The Justice Department announced its defiance of the court system on Sunday.

"The federal courts have no authority to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner," said DOJ attorneys in a court filing, arguing that officials only have a duty to "remove any domestic obstacles" that may stand in the way of Abrego Garcia's return.

US District Judge Paula Xinis made the original ruling ordering the Trump administration to bring back Abrego Garcia after admitting its mistaken deportation. Xinis then ordered the Justice Department to hand over all relevant information about Abrego Garcia's detention after the Supreme Court reaffirmed her ruling.

The Trump administration has defied all court orders from the top down, which sets up another high-profile showdown between the executive branch and the federal judiciary over who has the power to resolve immigration policies, especially issues involving foreign governments.

Abrego Garcia's return is also in question after a separate court filing Sunday in which a senior US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) official said in a sworn statement that Abrego Garcia "is no longer eligible for withholding of removal" because of the Trump administration’s claim that he is a member of the MS-13 gang, which the president has designated as a foreign terrorist organization.

The only information the Trump administration released was a Saturday filing confirming Abrego Garcia's detention in an El Salvador prison.

"Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador," a senior State Department official wrote in the filing.

"He is alive and secure in that facility."