Supreme Court Pauses Deadline to Return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to US

The Supreme Court on Monday paused a deadline requiring the Trump administration to return recently-deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US from El Salvador.

The Details: On Friday, U.S. Federal District Judge Paula Xinis said that the Salvadoran national had been illegally deported to El Salvador and that he must be returned to the U.S. by midnight Monday. Xinis found that there was little to no evidence that Abrego Garcia was once an MS-13 gang member. Attorney General Pam Bondi said that ICE members have testified that Abrego Garcia, a former Maryland resident, is a member of the criminal gang.

Key Quotes: “As defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador — let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote. Bondi said, "We have to rely on what ICE says. We have to rely on what Homeland Security says. They're our clients, and I firmly believe in the work they are doing, and we're going to make America safe again. That was President Trump's directive to all of us."

For Context: On March 23, Abrego Garcia was stopped by immigration officials, who told him that his status had changed. He was then transferred to a Texas detention center after being questioned about gang affiliation. He is now in El Salvador due to what the Justice Department calls an "administrative error."

How the Media Covered It: Associated Press (Left bias) introduced Abrego Garcia as "a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who has never been charged or convicted of any crime." Fox News (Right bias) described him as "an alleged MS-13 gang member."

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