A federal appeals court said it was “shocking” that the Trump administration claimed it was unable to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
In a blistering ruling on Thursday, a three-judge panel unanimously agreed that a group of President Donald Trump’s top officials—including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi—must fulfill a judge’s request for sworn testimony about their failure to heed her order demanding Abrego Garcia’s return.
“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter,” the Fourth Circuit ruling said. “But in this case, it is not hard at all.”
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The opinion—written by Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III, a Ronald Reagan appointee—said that Trump “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.”
“Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done,” it said. “This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear.”
Neither the White House nor the Justice Department immediately responded to The Daily Beast’s request for comment.
Wilkinson is a hardline conservative whose previous notable opinions include upholding a controversial Virginia abortion ban and supporting the government’s right to indefinitely detain American citizens during wartime. He was floated as a possible nominee for the Supreme Court’s Chief Justice under George W. Bush.
He was joined in his decision by the panel’s other two judges, Robert B. King (appointed by Bill Clinton) and Stephanie D. Thacker (appointed by Barack Obama).
Abrego Garcia’s deportation last month has become a political flashpoint.
The 29-year-old Maryland father of three was one of hundreds of undocumented migrants shipped off to an infamous El Salvador mega prison by Trump’s Department of Homeland Security. A government official previously admitted Abrego Garcia’s deportation was due to an “administrative error.”
While the White House alleges that Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, his lawyers deny this. Both U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis and the entirety of the Supreme Court have ordered Trump to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, but the president has refused.
Trump maintains that even if he wanted to bring back Abrego Garcia, he would be unable to because he is now in the custody of El Salvador’s government—a claim that was supported by President Nayib Bukele when he visited the Oval Office Tuesday.
The appeals court’s ruling dismissed this excuse and urged Trump to demonstrate “mutual respect” for the other branches of government.
“Too often today this has not been the case, as calls for impeachment of judges for decisions the Executive disfavors and exhortations to disregard court orders sadly illustrate,” it said.
The ruling asked the question, “If today the Executive claims the right to deport without due process and in disregard of court orders, what assurance will there be tomorrow that it will not deport American citizens and then disclaim responsibility to bring them home?”
This line cited two news articles (from Fox and ABC) about Trump’s brazen suggestion Tuesday that he could begin deporting Americans—in his words, “homegrown criminals”—to El Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo next.
Alongside the Abrego Garcia case, Trump has defied and ignored a separate court order that instructed him to turn back two planes of alleged Venezuelan gang members on their way to El Salvador last month.
Chief Judge of the District Court James Boasberg—whom the president has deemed a “radical left lunatic” worthy of impeachment—issued a similarly scathing ruling Wednesday beginning the process of holding Trump and top officials in criminal contempt for their failure to heed his order.
