��������

The Supreme Court on Monday temporarily paused a court-imposed midnight deadline to return Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, agreeing to a request from President Donald Trump to give both sides more time to make their arguments.Chief Justice John Roberts granted the “administrative stay�� on his own, a move that will extend the deadline until the court hands down a more fulsome decision �� probably within a few days. Roberts handles emergency cases rising from the federal appeals court in Richmond, Virginia.The decision to temporarily pause the case, which is relatively common when the court is facing a quick deadline, means that Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national deported on March 15, will remain at a notorious prison in El Salvador for now. A lower court judge had given the administration until midnight to return him to the U.S.Trump attorneys have conceded in court filings that the administration mistakenly deported the father of three “because of an administrative error,�� but said it could not bring him back because he is in Salvadoran custody. His case has added to the already considerable legal scrutiny over White House efforts to deport immigrants without a hearing or review.The Justice Department told the Supreme Court ordering officials to return the man is “unprecedented�� as it sounded now familiar themes arguing that federal courts are overstepping their power.“Even amidst a deluge of unlawful injunctions, this order is remarkable,�� recently confirmed Solicitor General D. John Sauer told the Supreme Court in the filing Monday. “The Constitution charges the president, not federal district courts, with the conduct of foreign diplomacy and protecting the nation against foreign terrorists, including by effectuating their removal.”“While the United States concedes that removal to El Salvador was an administrative error �� that does not license district courts to seize control over foreign relations, treat the executive branch as a subordinate diplomat, and demand that the United States let a member of a foreign terrorist organization into America tonight,�� Sauer added.Abrego Garcia was in the country illegally, but an immigration judge in 2019 �� after reviewing evidence �� withheld his removal. That meant that Abrego Garcia could not be deported to El Salvador. A gang in his native country, the immigration judge found, had been “targeting him and threatening him with death because of his family’s pupusa business.”For the next six years, court records show, Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland, checked in with immigration officials annually and was never charged with a crime.But Abrego Garcia wound up on one of three planes bound for a notorious prison in El Salvador on March 15. Several of the people loaded onto those planes were deported under Trump’s invocation of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act �� an invocation that has drawn its own legal challenge now pending at the Supreme Court. But Abrego Garcia, the administration has said, was deported under different authorities.On Friday, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis explained in an opinion why she had ordered the government to return Abrego Garcia by 11:59 p.m. on Monday.White House officials have publicly mocked the judge’s order and assert they have no ability to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.“Marxist judge now thinks she’s president of El Salvador,�� Trump adviser Stephen Miller posted to social media on Friday.But under oath, the Justice Department has been far less clear about the removal. Pressed by Xinis last week about why the U.S. couldn’t return Abrego Garcia, DOJ lawyer Erez Reuveni said he didn’t have an answer.“The first thing I did when I got this case on my desk is ask my clients the same question,�� Reuveni responded.The Department of Justice has since placed Reuven and his supervisor on leave.