The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Thursday declined to lift a judge’s order that the Trump administration “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, that admonished the Justice Department.
The Justice Department appealed U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’s clarified directive, which she issued last week after the Supreme Court upheld the thrust of her original order pushing for the man’s return.
The 4th Circuit declined to put Xinis’s ruling on hold just one day after the administration filed the appeal, a swift order that came without waiting for Abrego Garcia’s lawyers to file their response.
“The relief the government is requesting is both extraordinary and premature. While we fully respect the Executive’s robust assertion of its Article II powers, we shall not micromanage the efforts of a fine district judge attempting to implement the Supreme Court’s recent decision,” U.S. Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote for the unanimous three-judge panel.
It marks the second time the 4th Circuit has rejected the Trump administration in the case. The administration could now attempt to seek emergency relief from the Supreme Court.
Abrego Garcia was deported to an El Salvador megaprison roughly a month ago despite an immigration judge’s ruling protecting him from removal there over fears he could face violence.
The Trump administration has acknowledged he was mistakenly deported due to an “administrative error” but contends the courts are powerless to intervene because the man is no longer in U.S. custody.
The case has garnered significant national attention as the administration contends the man is a member of MS-13, an assertion largely based on details provided by an informant in 2019. Abrego Garcia’s family denies he has any gang ties.
“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all,” Wilkinson wrote.
“The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order,” he continued. “Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”
Wilkinson, an appointee of former President Reagan, was joined on the panel by U.S. Circuit Judge Robert King, an appointee of former President Clinton, and U.S. Circuit Judge Stephanie Thacker, an appointee of former President Obama.
The district court is moving ahead by ordering expedited discovery that is set to include depositions and document productions. Xinis, an Obama appointee, is also set to decide whether to hold the Trump administration in contempt.