Supreme Court Blocks Judge’s Order to Return Man Deported to El Salvador

Trump administration officials have petitioned the Supreme Court to stop a court-ordered return of a deported Salvadoran man labeled an MS-13 gang member.

The Supreme Court in Washington on April 7, 2025. Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

The Supreme Court has temporarily blocked a lower court order requiring the federal government to return an illegal immigrant deported to El Salvador, granting the Trump administration a brief reprieve as it appeals the case.

Chief Justice John Roberts entered the stay on April 7, pausing a Maryland district judge’s ruling that ordered the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to bring Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego-Garcia back to the United States by 11:59 p.m. April 7.

The stay, which will remain in effect pending further action by Roberts or the full court, also requires Abrego-Garcia’s legal team to file a response by 5 p.m. on April 8.

The order was issued in response to an emergency application the Trump administration filed with the Supreme Court earlier on Monday. The application requested the high court to block U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ April 4 order requiring the government to bring back Abrego-Garcia. The judge found that the government had violated a 2019 immigration ruling that barred his removal to El Salvador due to credible threats from the rival Barrio 18 gang. The 2019 ruling was made after Abrego-Garcia was arrested in Maryland and placed in deportation proceedings.

Abrego-Garcia entered the United States illegally in about 2011.

Despite the 2019 ruling, Abrego-Garcia was arrested on March 12 by Homeland Security Investigations, a division of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Officials cited what they described as his “prominent role” in the MS-13 gang, which the Trump administration had recently designated a foreign terrorist organization. He was placed on a deportation flight three days later, on March 15.

According to ICE official Robert Cerna II, Abrego-Garcia had not been on the original manifest for the flight but was listed as an alternate. As other individuals were removed from the flight, Abrego-Garcia’s name was moved up, and he was added to the final passenger list. The manifest, Cerna added, failed to indicate that Abrego-Garcia had legal protection from removal to El Salvador.

“Through administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador,” Cerna said in the filing. “This was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego-Garcia’s purported membership in MS-13.”

Abrego-Garcia’s lawyers have argued that there is no credible evidence linking him to MS-13.

In an April 6 opinion denying the government’s motion to stay her April 4 order, Xinis appeared to agree.

“Defendants have claimed—without any evidence—that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13 and then housed him among the chief rival gang, Barrio 18,” she wrote.

Xinis also rejected the administration’s claim that the court had overstepped its authority, finding that Abrego-Garcia’s deportation was illegal and that the government could not now avoid responsibility by claiming that it lacked the power to correct the mistake.

“Having confessed grievous error, the Defendants now argue that this Court lacks the power to hear this case, and they lack the power to order Abrego Garcia’s return,” she wrote. “To avoid clear irreparable harm, and because equity and justice compels it, the Court grants the narrowest, daresay only, relief warranted: to order that Defendants return Abrego Garcia to the United States.”

On April 5, the Justice Department asked the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to pause Xinis’s order, filing an emergency motion for a stay pending appeal and an immediate administrative stay. The court denied both requests on April 7, prompting the Trump administration to turn to the Supreme Court in an effort to block the order before the midnight deadline.

In its filing, the Trump administration warned of sweeping consequences if the lower court’s ruling were allowed to stand.

“The United States cannot guarantee success in sensitive international negotiations in advance, least of all when a court imposes an absurdly compressed, mandatory deadline,” the government wrote.

In their April 7 filing in response to the Trump administration’s request for a stay, Abrego-Garcia’s lawyers argued the government admitted it unlawfully deported their client and retains control over his detention through its arrangement with El Salvador.

They said the court’s order simply requires U.S. officials to correct their own error—not compel foreign action. They also dismissed the government’s public safety claims, noting Abrego-Garcia has no criminal record and faces serious risk of harm if left in Salvadoran custody.