President Donald Trump’s administration can only take steps to remove “domestic obstacles” for the potential return of a man it erroneously deported, not force the El Salvadoran government to release him, according to a new court filing.
The government’s position is that an order requiring it to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia means “remov[ing] any domestic obstacles that would otherwise impede” Garcia’s ability to return to the United States, lawyers for the administration said in the April 13 filing.
U.S. officials deported Garcia to his home country of El Salvador in March. Garcia was ordered deported in 2019 based on allegations that he is a member of the MS-13 gang, but he was granted what’s called withholding of removal, a protection that prevented his return to El Salvador because a judge agreed he could face danger there….