Follow The Law

The United States Government arrested Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia in Maryland and flew him to a "terrorism confinement center" in El Salvador, where he has been detained for 26 days and counting.  To this day, the Government has cited no basis in law for Abrego Garcia's warrantless arrest, his removal to El Salvador, or his confinement in a Salvadoran prison.  Nor could it.  The Government remains bound by an Immigration Judge's 2019 order expressly prohibiting Abrego Garcia's removal to El Salvador because he faced a "clear probability of future persecution" there and "demonstrated that [El Salvador's] authorities were and would be unable or unwilling to protect him."  The Government has not challenged the validity of that order.

Instead of hastening to correct its egregious error, the Government dismissed it as an "oversight."  The Government now requests an order from this Court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by the law.  The only argument the Government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong.  The Government's argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene.  That view refutes itself.

In the proceedings on remand, the District Court should continue to ensure that the Government lives up to its obligations to follow the law.

-- Statement of Justice Sotomayor, with whom Justice Kagan and Justice Jackson join, respecting the Court's decision to uphold a lower court's ruling that the U.S. Government must "facilitate and effectuate the return of [Abrego Garcia] to the United States" in Kristi Noem, Secretary, Dept. Of Homeland Security, et al. v. Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, et al. (10 April 2025)