User:Bob drobbs/sandbox

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia[a] is a citizen of El Salvador who was illegally deported from the United States on March 15, 2025, in what the Trump administration called "an administrative error."[8] Garcia illegally immigrated to the U.S. in 2011 at the age of 16 and has had lived and worked in the country legally since 2019.

He was imprisoned without trial in the maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), despite never having been charged with or convicted of a crime in either country,[9] per the agreement between the two countries to jail U.S. deportees there in exchange for money.[10]

On April 10, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously found Abrego Garcia's removal to El Salvador to be illegal. The court rejected the administration's defense that they had no jurisdiction over El Salvador to bring him back, with Justice Sotomayor noting that the argument implied the government "could deport and incarcerate any person, including U.S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene." The administration has defended the deportation in the press by accusing Abrego Garcia of membership in the MS-13 gang, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.

The Supreme Court required the U.S. to "facilitate" the Abrego Garcia's release, but stopped short of a lower court's order to both "facilitate and effectuate" his return.[12] The administration took this to mean that it has no obligation to arrange for Abrego Garcia's return[13] and can fulfill its obligation to "facilitate" his release by admitting him into the U.S.[13] and providing a plane[14] if El Salvador chooses to release him, which President of El Salvador Nayib Bukele refuses to do.[15] The US administration claims "The federal courts have no authority to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner." [17]