Chief Justice John Roberts has temporarily halted a judge’s midnight deadline for the Trump administration to bring back a man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador.
Roberts made this move to give the Supreme Court time to review an emergency request from the Trump administration, which wants to lift a judge’s order demanding the man’s return.
The order from Roberts doesn’t decide the main issue and doesn’t indicate how the court might rule in the long run.
The Trump administration has admitted to an “administrative error” that led to the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man living in Maryland. Despite a 2019 ruling protecting him from deportation due to fears for his safety, Abrego Garcia was sent to El Salvador.
Last month, he was among the many deported migrants who ended up in a dangerous Salvadoran prison. While the administration claims he has ties to the MS-13 gang based on a confidential informant, Abrego Garcia’s family denies these accusations.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis set a Monday night deadline for the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia. But the Justice Department argues it cannot bring him back because he is now under Salvadoran control, calling the judge’s order impossible to follow.
The administration filed an emergency appeal with the Supreme Court on Monday morning, just before a lower court rejected its request to delay the deadline.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers responded in court, calling the administration’s appeal “built on a series of strawmen.” They argue he’s locked up in a foreign prison because of a mistake made by the U.S. government.
“He sits in a foreign prison solely at the behest of the United States, as the product of a Kafka-esque mistake,” his lawyers wrote.
While Roberts’ temporary order gives the Trump administration a small victory, it doesn’t mean they’ll win the case. Earlier this year, Roberts delayed a similar deadline involving foreign aid payments, only to later side with the court’s liberals and Justice Amy Coney Barrett against the administration’s position.
