The Supreme Court stepped in Monday evening to halt what the Trump administration called an unprecedented judicial power grab, temporarily pausing a federal judge’s order that demanded the U.S. government bring back a deported MS-13 gang member from a high-security prison in El Salvador.
Chief Justice John Roberts granted an emergency administrative stay, giving the administration breathing room as it fights a lower court’s order to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran national with verified gang ties — back to the United States by midnight Monday, according to Axios.
The Trump administration’s top legal voice, Solicitor General D. John Sauer, filed the appeal early Monday, accusing U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of overstepping her authority and interfering with the president’s power to manage foreign policy and national security.
At the center of the legal clash is Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a native of El Salvador who was previously removed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. According to the Department of Justice, he is “a verified member of MS-13,” citing an immigration judge’s determination that a “past, proven, and reliable source of information” confirmed his gang affiliation.
Although Abrego Garcia had been granted withholding of removal to El Salvador in 2019, the Trump administration argued that relief was no longer valid after MS-13 was designated a foreign terrorist organization earlier this year. Solicitor General Sauer emphasized that “members of MS-13 are no longer eligible for withholding of removal.”
The emergency application submitted to the Supreme Court by Sauer described the lower court’s injunction as “remarkable,” saying the ruling “requires the United States to persuade El Salvador to release Abrego Garcia—a native of El Salvador detained in El Salvador—on a judicially mandated clock.”
“The Constitution charges the President, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the Nation against foreign terrorists,” Sauer wrote. “This order sets the United States up for failure.”
