Photo credit: www.yahoo.com
A federal judge has been deemed to lack the authority to mandate the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported from the United States to a notorious prison in El Salvador. This assertion was made by government attorneys during their appeal to halt a ruling from U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis.
Judge Xinis had previously ordered that the U.S. administration “facilitate and effectuate” Garcia’s return by late Monday. In response, Justice Department lawyers urged the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend this order.
They argued, “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 appeals court subsequently requested a response from Garcia’s legal team regarding the government’s motion by Sunday afternoon.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old from El Salvador, was apprehended in Maryland and deported last month, despite a 2019 ruling from an immigration judge that protected him from being sent back to El Salvador, where he was at risk of persecution from local gangs.
The White House characterized his deportation as an “administrative error,” sparking widespread concern over the expulsion of noncitizens granted permission to reside in the U.S.
Supporters of Garcia gathered at the federal courthouse in Greenbelt, Maryland, expressing their solidarity during the hearing, erupting into applause when Judge Xinis ruled in his favor. Garcia’s wife, a U.S. citizen, was present at the hearing.
In her ruling, Xinis indicated there was no legal justification for Garcia’s detention or his deportation, especially to a facility in El Salvador marked by significant human rights concerns.
Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, criticized the government’s inaction, stating that despite acknowledging their mistakes, they had not taken practical measures to rectify the situation.
“There have been plenty of tweets and statements from the White House, but no tangible actions have been taken to correct this with the government of El Salvador,” he remarked during proceedings.
The administration has portrayed Garcia as an MS-13 gang member, a claim that his lawyers have firmly contested, asserting that there is no supporting evidence for such an assertion.
According to Garcia’s attorney, he held a Department of Homeland Security permit allowing him to work legally in the United States, where he was employed as a sheet metal apprentice and was working toward obtaining his journeyman license.
Garcia fled El Salvador in 2011 due to threats against him and his family from gangs, and in 2019 he was granted protection from deportation by a U.S. immigration judge.
Government lawyers, in their arguments, emphasized that they have no authority to arrange for Garcia’s return, comparing the situation to lacking the power to fulfill a court order that demands intervention in foreign conflicts or crises. They contended that compelling a foreign government to return an individual under such circumstances has no basis in U.S. law.
Source
www.yahoo.com