Behind the Legal Battle of the Man Sent to Salvadoran Prison in Error

The Supreme Court gave the Trump administration a temporary reprieve from lower-court orders requiring it to bring back by midnight Monday a Salvadoran man officials say they deported in error to a prison in El Salvador.

The justices’ brief order on Monday means that Kilmar Abrego Garcia will remain, for now, in El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center, also known by its Spanish acronym, Cecot, while the high court considers the case. 

The government argues that it can’t be forced to return Abrego Garcia from his overseas imprisonment. Lawyers for the 29-year-old deportee filed their response later Monday, and it is likely the court will act on the matter in the coming days.