Photo by Timo Miroshnichenko

April 10, 2025. 

This date will forever stand in history as a landmark decision. 

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration had to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador despite existing legal protections against his removal. But the reality of getting Mr. Garcia returned to the United States took far longer than it took to get the return order.

Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old resident of Maryland, had been living and working in the United States under a valid work permit since 2019. In that year, an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to El Salvador due to credible threats from local gangs. But in March 2025, Abrego Garcia, whose wife is a U.S. citizen and who has a 5-year-old child in the U.S., was stopped by ICE officers who "informed him that his immigration status had changed." He was detained, transferred to a detention center in Texas, and then sent to the notorious CECOT mega-prison in El Salvador later in March. The Trump Administration has alleged that Mr. Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, but his wife denies that charge. 

The Trump Administration acknowledged a court order that was supposed to prevent Mr. Abrego Garcia's removal and described his deportation as an "administrative error" but resisted a federal court order to return him to the United States by Monday, April 7, with the White House spokesperson even going so far as to say that “he was unwelcome in the U.S.”

On April 10 the Supreme Court upheld the District Court order, mandating that the administration take steps to return Abrego Garcia to the United States. The Court emphasized the government's responsibility to "facilitate" his return, rejecting the Administration's claims that foreign custody invalidated judicial authority. 

Last week, in early June, Mr. Garcia was finally brought back to the United States - after he had been quietly indicted on human trafficking charges in Tennessee. Federal prosecutors allege that Abrego Garcia worked for at least nine years as a driver for an immigrant-smuggling operation, transporting people all over the country. He will face a federal trial for those charges in Tennessee. 

Although we anticipate many more cases like this being litigated at the highest levels of the law, the Supreme Court's ruling in favor of Kilmar Abrego Garcia serves as a critical reminder of the checks and balances inherent in the U.S. legal system. Even if it takes longer than it should for those checks and balances to work. 

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