A federal judge issued a strongly worded ruling early Sunday demanding the Trump administration return a suspected MS-13 gang member whom she said was wrongly deported to El Salvador last week.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland, an Obama apppointee, condemned the Trump administration for what he called a “grievous error” that “shocks the conscience,” after it inadvertently deported a Salvadoran migrant to a notorious prison last month and then claimed it had little ability to retrieve him.
Xinis issued a strongly worded order that served two main purposes: It provided a detailed explanation of her brief ruling on Friday, which demanded that the White House return migrant Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the United States by the end of Monday, and it rejected the Justice Department’s request to suspend the order while a federal appeals court reviewed its validity.
Spanning 22 pages, Xinis sharply criticized Trump officials for deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador on March 15, in direct violation of a previous court order that allowed him to remain in the U.S. Administration officials then argued that neither they nor Xinis had the authority to retrieve him from the prison.
“As defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador — let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere,” Xinis wrote. “Having confessed grievous error, the defendants now argue that this court lacks the power to hear this case, and they lack the power to order Abrego Garcia’s return.”
The Trump administration has continued to defend the deportation even after admitting it was in error. On Sunday, Attorney General Pam Bondi asserted on Fox News that Abrego Garcia was a gang member, citing testimony from immigration agents. She also announced that the Justice Department attorney who initially handled the case has been suspended for failing to adequately defend the administration.