Filmar Armando Abrego Garcia was, until a few weeks ago, a man known only to his family and his close circle. He shot to prominence by being mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador by the Trump administration on 15 March. Lawyers acting on his behalf have got a court order demanding the American government “facilitate” his return so that his case can be properly dealt with. The government went to the Supreme Court, which last week ruled 9-0 in his favour, that he must be returned to the USA, although they gave the government more time to do it. He was originally detained and deported on the basis that he was a member of the criminal gang MS -13 and had engaged in human trafficking.
The government has been giving the District (State) Court in Maryland where Garcia lived, the runaround since the judge ordered his return by midnight Monday 7 April. They have delayed, appealed, obfuscated, fired their own lawyer, and generally dragged their feet, despite having admitted openly in court documents that he was deported 'by mistake.'
At yet another court hearing yesterday, the judge said "nothing has been done” to facilitate Garcia’s return, and she has ordered a two-week inquiry into what has happened. DoJ officials will be forced to give evidence (be 'deposed' in the jargon) under oath to Garcia's lawyers in a formal session.
Nobody has produced any evidence that he is or ever was a member of this MS-13 gang or has any criminal convictions at all in any country. He is an asylum seeker, legally resident in the USA. In a court case in 2019, a judge specifically ruled that the one country Garcia CANNOT be deported to is El Salvador! This is because he is a Salvadoran national who is trying to escape persecution by these gangs and is likely to suffer if he is returned to his country of birth. He has a wife and kids in Maryland who are also legal residents.
The president’s spokeswoman, Karoline Leavitt says he’s involved in human trafficking, although nobody in the Department of Justice has ever put this allegation forward in a court, and if anyone has been subject to human trafficking, it's Mr Garcia.
Chris Van Hollen is the Senator for Maryland. This is him speaking on CNN:
Van Hollen: "If the president gets to shred the Constitution and ignore the Supreme Court in this case, it is a very short path to the president ignoring court orders in other cases. So every American should care about this."
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 15 April 2025 at 15:08
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It is not just shameful that the government won't lift a finger to get him back but genuinely terrifying that anybody can be plucked off the streets, held in a detention centre, and deported against their will to another country with terrible human rights, all with no legal redress at all. Trump and his Attorney General have claimed they can’t get him back because he’s now in another sovereign country over which they have no control or jurisdiction. But the US has paid El Salvador under an agreement to imprison people like Garcia. El Salvador is acting as a private prison on foreign soil.
Many have pointed to the Fifth Amendment, which is quite plainly written:
"No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a Grand Jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the Militia, when in actual service in time of War or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offence to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."
The last bit, about no person being "deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," is the key. Neither Garcia nor any of the other men deported at the same time were given due process.
Earlier this week, Trump met the President of El Salvador, Nayib Armando Bukele Ortez, in the White House, and he was asked about Garcia. This was his answer:
Bukele said: “The question is preposterous; how can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States? I don’t have the power to return him to the United States.”
Nobody has ever produced a scrap of evidence that he is a terrorist. He has committed no crime in the US, and the administration has conceded he was sent to El Salvador in error. These are the facts.
Also, Trump was caught on an open mic asking Bukele to open five more prisons to house "homegrown" criminals, in other words, US citizens. The administration is indicating it intends to deport Americans to El Salvador mega prisons known as CECOTs or Terrorism Confinement Centers. It is plain crazy and totally unconstitutional.
The District Court is being urged to declare the Department of Justice (DoJ) is in contempt and to jail people. This would probably result in a huge Constitutional crisis, all provoked by Trump.
What happens if a court decides that the government, or a lawyer acting for the government, is in contempt? Usually, people can be detained by the US Marshals Service. But the service is controlled by both the courts and Trump's Attorney General, Pam Bondo, and there are questions whether or not they would act in those circumstances. One arm of government, the executive, would be at war with another, the judiciary. The Garcia case is shaping up to spark that crisis.
A professor of law at Rutgers Law School has a blog post explaining how the courts could get around the issues. They have the power to appoint others to perform the task. David Noll writes:
"This authority is recognized in an obscure provision of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, which govern proceedings in federal trial courts. Rule 4.1 specifies how certain types of “process” — the legal term for orders that command someone to appear in court — are to be served on the party to which they are directed. The rule begins in section (a) by instructing that, as a general matter, process 'must be served by a United States marshal or deputy marshal or by a person specially appointed for that purpose'.”
This, at the moment, is nothing more than an interesting legal point. However, the amazing thing is that a Professor of law felt the need to write the post in the first place.
We have come a very long way in just three short months under Trump. The President has ignored the Constitution dozens of times and seems oblivious to what he's doing. There are now close to 200 court lawsuits against his administration, but the Garcia case looks like being the first to reach a crisis point.
