The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national living in Maryland, from an El Salvador prison where federal officials sent hundreds of suspected criminals and gang members in March.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to the El Salvadoran megaprison last month for being an alleged MS-13 gang member, but his attorneys maintain he does not have any gang ties.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered federal officials to coordinate his return back to Maryland in a Monday order, calling his deportation “wholly unlawful.” On Thursday, the Supreme Court sided with Xinis.
“On March 15, 2025, the United States removed Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from the United States to El Salvador, where he is currently detained in the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT),” the order states. “The United States acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal.”
DOJ ASKS TO DISMISS VIRGINIA CASE AGAINST SALVADORAN ACCUSED MS-13 LEADER SET TO BE DEPORTED
This undated photo provided by Murray Osorio PLLC shows Kilmar Abrego Garcia. (Murray Osorio PLLC via AP)
Justice Sonia Sotomayor said she