The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld a lower court’s decision to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national living in Maryland, from an El Salvador prison where federal officials had sent him earlier this year.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was deported to the Salvadoran megaprison last month for allegedly being an MS-13 gang member, but his attorneys argue that he has no gang ties. U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis previously ordered federal officials to coordinate his return to Maryland, calling his deportation “wholly unlawful.” The Supreme Court sided with Xinis on Thursday.
The court order stated, “On March 15, 2025, the United States removed Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia from the United States to El Salvador, where he is currently detained in the Center for Terrorism Confinement (CECOT). The United States acknowledges that Abrego Garcia was subject to a withholding order forbidding his removal to El Salvador, and that the removal to El Salvador was therefore illegal.”
Justice Sonia Sotomayor, while expressing her disagreement with the court’s intervention, agreed with the order, stating, “The proper remedy is to provide Abrego Garcia with all the processes to which he would have been entitled had he not been unlawfully removed to El Salvador. That means the government must comply with its obligation to provide Abrego Garcia with ‘due process of law,’ including notice and an opportunity to be heard, in any future proceedings.”
The Supreme Court emphasized that the government must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and ensure his case is handled as if he had never been improperly deported.
Federal court filings reveal that Abrego Garcia fled El Salvador to escape gang violence. Around 2006, gang members reportedly stalked, assaulted, and threatened to kidnap and kill him to extort his parents. He entered the U.S. illegally in 2011 and settled in Maryland, where his older brother, a U.S. citizen, resided.
In 2016, Abrego Garcia began a relationship with Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a U.S. citizen, and helped raise her two children, also U.S. citizens. The couple later had a child together, and Abrego Garcia worked in the construction industry to support his family.
On March 28, 2019, Abrego Garcia was detained by Prince George County Police Department officers while seeking work at a Home Depot in Hyattsville, Maryland. He was questioned about gang affiliations but denied any involvement. Despite being released by a judge, he missed the birth of his child while in federal custody.
Abrego Garcia was arrested again on March 12, 2025, after working a shift as a sheet metal apprentice in Baltimore and picking up his 5-year-old son, who has autism and other disabilities, from his grandmother’s house.
His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, has publicly advocated for his return, sharing their story during a news conference at CASA’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Maryland.
The Supreme Court’s decision now places the responsibility on the U.S. government to ensure Abrego Garcia’s return and his access to due process in any future legal proceedings.
Audrey Conklin, a digital reporter for Fox News Digital and FOX Business, contributed to this report.
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