Is Donald Trump Ignoring Supreme Court’s Abrego Garcia Order? What to Know

A federal judge has ordered an inquiry into the Trump administration’s refusal to seek the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was wrongly deported to a notorious El Salvador prison.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Maryland issued the order after Trump officials refused to retrieve Abrego Garcia, saying they defied a “clear” order from the Supreme Court.

Xinis had previously ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return, an order the Supreme Court upheld last week. “The Supreme Court has spoken,” Xinis said during a hearing on Tuesday.

But while Xinis and attorneys for Abrego Garcia argue the court’s order means the Trump administration needs to make efforts to retrieve him, the administration has said the decision does not force them to do so.

Why It Matters

Abrego Garcia’s deportation without due process has become a flashpoint as President Donald Trump seeks to deliver on his campaign promise of mass deportations.

He came to the U.S. illegally about 14 years ago, but an immigration judge shielded him from deportation to El Salvador in 2019, ruling that he would likely face persecution there by local gangs. He was also given a federal permit to work in the U.S, his lawyers said.

Despite the order, Abrego Garcia, who has no criminal record, was arrested and deported to El Salvador in March. Officials later acknowledged that it was “an administrative error,” but administration officials have argued against bringing him back, alleging he has ties to the MS-13 gang. His family and attorneys have denied any gang ties.

What Did the Supreme Court Order?

Xinis’ order directed the Trump administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s release.

The Supreme Court unanimously agreed with Xinis that the U.S. must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release, but took issue with “effectuate.”

In an unsigned order with no noted dissents, the court said the district court’s order “properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.”

But it added that the “intended scope of the term ‘effectuate’ in the District Court’s order, is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court’s authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs.”

It also said the Trump administration “should be prepared to share what it can concerning the steps it has taken and the prospect of further steps.”

Trump’s policy chief Stephen Miller has suggested the ruling was in the administration’s favor because of the court’s order on having to “effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

During an Oval Office meeting on Monday, he said the high court had ruled the lower court’s order was “unlawful and its main components were reversed 9-0 unanimously, stating clearly that neither Secretary of State nor the president could be compelled by anybody to forcibly retrieve a citizen of El Salvador from El Salvador who again is a member of MS-13.”

How the Trump Administration Responded

Attorney General Pam Bondi has argued the Supreme Court’s order to “facilitate” his return means only that the government would need to provide a plane if El Salvador wants to return him.

“That’s up to El Salvador if they want to return him,” she said during an Oval Office meeting between Trump and El Salvador’s president Nayib Bukele on Monday. “That’s not up to us. The Supreme Court ruled that if El Salvador wants to return him … we would facilitate it, meaning provide a plane.”

On Wednesday, Bondi told reporters that the Trump administration had missed “one extra step of paperwork” before deporting Abrego Garcia but said that he “is not coming back to our country.”

She repeated that the U.S. would provide a plane if El Salvador chose to return him, but said “there was no situation, ever, where he was going to stay in this country.”

Maryland Senator Chris Van Hollen, who traveled to El Salvador on Wednesday and met with the country’s vice president to push for Abrego Garcia’s release, told reporters that there’s “no evidence” the Trump administration is complying with the Supreme Court’s order. “The United States embassy here has told me they’ve received no direction from the Trump administration to help facilitate his release,” he said.

Van Hollen also said he had asked El Salvador’s vice president Félix Ulloa why Abrego Garcia is being held if neither the Trump administration nor the government of El Salvador have found evidence to confirm he’s a member of MS-13 or committed any crimes. “His answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador, to keep him at CECOT,” he said, referring to the country’s mega prison.

In a filing on Tuesday afternoon, an attorney for the Trump administration said the government “does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.”

The attorney wrote that the Department of Homeland Security is “prepared to facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s presence in the U.S. if he presents at a port of entry. But he wrote that should he do so, his protection from being deported to El Salvador would be removed, and that he could be deported back to El Salvador or to a third country.

What El Salvador Has Said

Bukele said during the Oval Office meeting with Trump that he does not have the “power” to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

“Of course I’m not going to do it,” he said. “The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”

He said he would not release Abrego Garcia into El Salvador either. “We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists into the country,” he said.

But some have called out Bukele for the comments.

Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow for the American Immigration Council, wrote on X: “Bukele is pretending that he’s incapable of releasing someone his own jail is holding at U.S. expense, and Trump is pretending he can’t just ask Bukele to release the guy.”

Bukele’s claim “is obviously a lie,” Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, wrote on X. “Kilmar must be returned home to the U.S. immediately. Absolutely no one should be sent to Bukele’s torture camp. Trump ignoring a 9-0 Supreme Court order to bring Kilmar home is an unprecedented constitutional crisis.”