By Luc Cohen
(Reuters) – U.S. judge on Tuesday will consider her next steps on what she called the Trump administration’s failure to update her on efforts to return a man illegally deported to El Salvador, in a case critics say shows the administration may choose to defy unfavorable court orders.
The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man who was deported on March 15 despite an order protecting him from removal, is one of several that have sparked concerns among Democrats and some legal analysts that Republican President Donald Trump’s administration is willing to disregard the judiciary, an independent and equal branch of government.
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The hearing before U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis in Greenbelt, Maryland, was due to begin at 4 p.m. EDT (2000 GMT).
Legal experts said Xinis at Tuesday’s hearing may ask the administration whether it told El Salvador President Nayib Bukele – who met Trump at the White House on Monday – not to release Abrego Garcia, which could amount to defiance of the court’s order to “facilitate” his return.
“Expect some fireworks,” said Kevin Johnson, a professor at UC Davis School of Law.
The Trump administration says it is in compliance with Xinis’ orders. In a court filing on Monday, a Department of Homeland Security official wrote, “DHS does not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.”
During the meeting with Bukele on Monday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said, “The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by the president of the United States, not by a court.”
Trump at the meeting called reporters asking whether the administration would seek the return of Abrego Garcia “sick people.”
Bukele told reporters at the White House he did not have the power to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
“The question is preposterous. How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele said, echoing the Trump administration’s claim that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, which Washington labels a terrorist organization.
Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have denied he is a gang member, saying the U.S. has presented no credible evidence to support the claim.
Xinis on April 4 ordered the administration to “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego Garcia’s return from El Salvador, where he is being housed in a high-security mega-prison known as the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT.
The U.S. Supreme Court last week upheld that order following a challenge by the Trump administration, but said the term “effectuate” was unclear and might exceed the court’s authority. Xinis then ordered the Trump administration to offer a timeline for returning Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
After finding the administration did not comply with that order, the judge then ordered the government to provide daily updates about what it was doing to get Abrego Garcia back.
On Sunday, the administration told Xinis that “facilitate” meant only that it must remove any domestic obstacles impeding his return to the United States and did not apply to interactions with a foreign nation.
Interpreting “facilitate” as requiring something more than domestic action would flout the Supreme Court’s order, the administration said in a legal filing. Trump has said his administration would bring the man back if the Supreme Court directed it to.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Deepa Babington)
