A federal appeals court on Thursday rejected the Trump administration’s emergency request to block a judge’s order requiring the U.S. government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant from El Salvador with a violent criminal record and suspected gang affiliations.
Garcia was deported last month to the high-security “Terrorism Confinement Center” (CECOT) in El Salvador. The appeals court ruling allows the lower court’s order to remain in effect for now.
The case centers on Abrego Garcia, a deported “Maryland man,” whose return was mandated by a district judge following a recent Supreme Court ruling. The Department of Justice had asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to overturn the order, but the court declined to do so.
The three-judge panel consisted of Judge Harvie Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, Judge Robert King, appointed by President Bill Clinton, and Judge Stephanie Thacker, appointed by President Barack Obama. In the court’s opinion, Wilkinson repeatedly referred to Abrego Garcia as a “resident,” even though Abrego Garcia is not a lawful U.S. resident, Fox News reported.
“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” Wilkinson wrote. “This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”
Court documents and police records reveal that Abrego Garcia has a documented history of domestic violence, including multiple instances of physically abusing his wife. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has also identified him as an MS-13 gang member, known by the street name “Chele,” Fox noted.
The court called the DOJ’s request “extraordinary and premature,” stating it would not intervene in the district judge’s efforts to implement the Supreme Court’s ruling. Attorney General Pam Bondi emphasized that Abrego Garcia would not be permitted to reenter the U.S. unless El Salvador made the decision to release him.
“He is not coming back to our country,” she said earlier this week.
On Monday, Trump adviser Stephen Miller engaged in a fiery back-and-forth with Fox News anchor Bill Hemmer over the Supreme Court’s decision regarding Abrego Garcia, calling it a big “win” for the administration and further clarifying additional points that have not been widely reported.
Hemmer recapped the case, noting that Abrego Garcia was “mistakenly” deported — prompting Miller to immediately push back, accusing Hemmer of getting it “all wrong.”
“I want to correct that. I hate to do it, Bill. I have to correct you on everything you said. It was all wrong,” Miller began.
“DOJ called me after the Supreme Court ruling and said: ‘It is amazing we won the case 9-0, we are in excellent standing here,’” Miller continued.
“It has been portrayed wrong for 72 hours in the media. They said the most a court can ever compel you to do is facilitate return, which means if El Salvador voluntarily sends him back we wouldn’t block him in the airport, we would put him back in ICE detention and then he would be deported back to El Salvador or somewhere else,” Miller said. “The Supreme Court said that’s the most the government can be expected to do. So, we won the case. The misreporting on this has been atrocious.”
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Miller insisted that the claim Abrego Garcia was wrongly deported originated from a now-terminated Justice Department employee who, he noted, was a Democrat, in correcting the record.
“He was not mistakenly sent to El Salvador. He was an illegal alien from El Salvador. In 2019 he was ordered deported. He has a final removal order from the United States. These are things that no one disputes. Where is he from? El Salvador. A resident and citizen of? El Salvador. Is he here illegally? Yes. Does he have a deportation order? Yes,” Miller continued.
“A DOJ Lawyer who has been relieved of duty, a saboteur, a Democrat, put into a filing, incorrectly, that this was a mistaken removal. It was not. It was the right person sent to the right place,” he added.
