Judge gives Trump ultimatum to return MS-13 suspect from El Salvador: ‘Unlawful’

A federal judge gave the government until Monday to bring back an illegal immigrant who was wrongly deported to El Salvador, scolding the Trump administration for its “unlawful removal.”

Judge Paula Xini said the government has admitted that Kilmar Abrego–Garcia was put on a March 15 deportation flight in error, and there was no lawful basis to send him to his home country of El Salvador.

The government argued Mr. Abrego-Garcia is a dangerous member of MS-13 but the judge said she hadn’t seen any concrete evidence of that — and besides, the law was clear in barring his deportation home.

“This was an illegal act,” she said. She gave the government until 11:59 p.m. Monday to get him back.

Erez Reuveni, a Justice Department lawyer, admitted the government got it wrong.

“Mr. Abrego-Garcia should not have been removed. That is not in dispute,” he said.

That presents a challenge to President Trump, whose spokeswoman has defended the deportation.

“Foreign terrorists do not have legal protections in the United States of America anymore and it is within the president’s executive authority and power to deport these heinous individuals from American communities,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday.

The case has become a flashpoint in the broader fight over Mr. Trump’s deportation plans. Even as Judge Xini was hearing arguments, protesters outside the courthouse were chanting and holding signs reading “Bring him home” and “Due process.”

Mr. Abrego–Garcia was ordered deported in 2019 but the immigration judge at the time ruled he faced the possibility of persecution or torture in his home country of El Salvador and couldn’t be sent back.

He could have been deported to another country, but U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement stuck him on the plane to El Salvador three weeks ago as part of a massive operation to send Venezuelan and Salvadoran gang suspects to El Salvador’s terrorist prison.

Mr. Reuveni said Mr. Abrego-Garcia was deportable thanks to the 2019 order — but conceded it was unlawful to send him back to El Salvador.

But the lawyer had argued the government can’t be ordered to bring him back because he is now in the custody of El Salvador.

He then undercut his own case, saying he’d never gotten an explanation from Homeland Security or the State Department as to why Mr. Abrego-Garcia couldn’t be returned.

He said he’d been urging the government to bring Mr. Abrego-Garcia back, and asked for a grace period to persuade them.

“I would ask the court to give us, the defendants, one more chance to do this without court superintendence,” he said.

“I very much appreciate your candor to the court. Good clients listen to their lawyers,” Judge Xini said.

She rejected the argument that Mr. Abrego-Garcia is beyond the Trump administration’s reach. She said the U.S. is paying El Salvador to hold him and seems to have a close working relationship with the prison where he is being held.

He was flown back as part of three planeloads of deportees sent to El Salvador on March 15. Most of the others were Venezuelan the administration says are members of Tren de Aragua. But some were Salvadorans the administration ousted over ties to MS-13.

The government has declared both gangs to be foreign terrorist organizations, and many of those ousted on March 15 were kicked out as part of Mr. Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act. But Mr. Abrego-Garcia was not one of those. Instead, he was deported under regular immigration law — and done so illegally, as Mr. Reuveni admitted.

He repeatedly found himself blaming Trump officials for hamstringing his case.

“The government made a choice here to produce no evidence,” he said.

Mr. Abrego–Garcia has denied being a member of MS-13.

But an immigration judge in 2019 found it likely he was a member based on a Prince George’s County Police Department report from a confidential source that identified him by his gang rank and gang nickname. He was also arrested by deportation authorities in 2019 in the company of known MS-13 figures, the immigration judge said.

She denied him bond at the time, saying he had missed several court appearances for traffic offenses and didn’t seem to show respect for court orders.

Ms. Leavitt also hinted at other offenses, though she gave no evidence.

Judge Xini said no proof of crimes or gang membership has been presented in her courtroom either.

“That’s just chatter in my view. I haven’t been given any evidence,” she said. “In a court of law when someone is accused of membership in such a violent and predatory organization it comes in the form of an indictment, a complaint, a criminal proceeding, that then has robust process so we can assess the facts.”

She demanded to know what the authority was for Mr. Abrego-Garcia’s arrest earlier this year.

Mr. Reuveni, the government lawyer, said he didn’t know — and again apologized for that.

“I am also frustrated that I have no answers for you,” he said.