April 4 (Reuters) – A U.S. judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must return a Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador last month back to the United States within three days.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland, said at a court hearing that the government must take steps to ensure the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran migrant, to the United States by April 7.
The U.S. has already acknowledged Abrego Garcia – who lived in the U.S legally and had a work permit – was deported in error, but has argued it has no legal authority to bring him back to the country.
One of Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told the judge at Friday’s hearing that there was no legal basis for Abrego Garcia’s deportation.
“They admit they had no legal authorization to remove him to El Salvador,” Moshenberg said. “The public interest lies in the government following the law.”
Erez Reuveni, a lawyer for the government, conceded that Abrego Garcia should not have been removed.
“That is not in dispute,” Reuveni said.
Xinis grilled the government lawyer over what legal authority it had to arrest and detain Abrego Garcia.
“Why can’t the United States get Mr. Abrego Garcia back?” Xinis asked. Reuveni said he asked the U.S. government that question but had not received an answer that he found satisfactory.
The hearing marks the latest flashpoint in the Trump administration’s crackdown on immigration.
Trump on March 15 invoked the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to rapidly deport alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. The administration said it sent two flights to El Salvador that day carrying deportees processed under the rarely used wartime statute and a third flight carrying people deported under other rules.
His lawyers, who also represent his wife and five-year-old child in the U.S., in a court filing said the U.S. had failed to take any voluntary steps “to rectify what they themselves describe as an error.” Abrego Garcia’s wife and child are U.S. citizens.
Prominent law firm Quinn Emanuel joined Abrego Garcia’s legal team on Friday before the start of the hearing. The firm’s clients include billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk, a key adviser to Trump.
The Trump administration’s hardline approach to immigration has raised constitutional questions and drawn the rebuke of a judge in Washington who is weighing whether U.S. officials violated a court order temporarily blocking the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members under the 18th-century law.
The administration has sent military troops to the U.S. border and reassigned federal agents to focus on immigration enforcement amid ramped up arrests and deportation efforts.
Reporting by Mike Scarcella; Editing by David Bario and Deepa Babington
