Salvadoran national unlawfully deported by the Trump administration in violation of a court order; at the center of a Supreme Court confrontation over executive defiance of judicial authority
Background
Kilmar Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran national who had been living in Maryland with his U.S. citizen children and had a prior immigration court order protecting him from deportation to El Salvador on the grounds that he faced persecution there. In March 2025, the Trump administration deported him to El Salvador despite that protection order, which the DOJ itself acknowledged was an administrative error. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered his return, and the Supreme Court unanimously ruled the administration must “facilitate” his return. The Trump administration refused to comply, asserting it could not compel a foreign government to act, a position courts rejected as evasive. The case became a landmark confrontation over executive defiance of both district and Supreme Court directives.
