US court upholds ruling ordering Trump administration to facilitate return of man mistakenly deported to El Salvador
'Shocking' that DOJ said 'nothing that can be done' because it rid itself of Kilmar Abrego Garcia's custody, judge says
HOUSTON, United States
A US federal appeals court on Thursday upheld a previous ruling ordering the Trump administration to facilitate the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, 29, was expelled to his native country on March 15 during a Department of Justice (DOJ) roundup of hundreds of alleged Salvadoran and Venezuelan gang members in the US.
Abrego Garcia's deportation was carried out without a court hearing and despite a previous court order from a different case that barred his removal from the United States.
The Trump administration admitted that it made the error but has held firm on its stance that the DOJ has no jurisdiction to return Abrego Garcia because he is now in the custody of another country.
The 4th US Circuit Court of Appeals did not agree with that argument, and the three-judge panel ruled that the Trump administration must follow the original order to help facilitate Abrego Garcia's return issued by US District Court Judge Paula Xinis.
"It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all," wrote Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson in his ruling. "The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order."
"Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear," Wilkinson continued.
Thursday's ruling marks the second time the 4th Circuit has rejected the Trump administration in the case. The DOJ could now attempt to seek emergency relief from the US Supreme Court.
The US District Court is now ordering an expedited recovery that is set to include depositions and document productions from the Justice Department. Xinis is also set to decide whether to hold the Trump administration in contempt for not following the court's ruling.
