President Donald Trump’s deputies say they do not have the authority to make the national government of El Salvador return a deported illegal migrant to the United States.
“The federal courts have no authority to direct the Executive Branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way, or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner,” Trump deputies told a federal court in Maryland on Sunday.
The filing is part of the legal battle between Trump’s immigration officials and the elite lawyers who are using the case of a deported El Salvador citizen, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
The pro-migration lawyers argue that Abrego Garcia was illegally deported and should be returned to the United States. The lawsuit is part of the legal campaign by elite-backed pro-migration groups who are seeking to delay and disrupt Trump’s campaign promise to deport millions of illegal migrants.
The lawyers are now asking the judge to hold the justice department lawyers in contempt of the court if they do not return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
But Trump’s lawyers say the judge does not have the authority to penalize federal officials.
They cited the April 10 ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court which told the judge overseeing the case to respect the President’s sole control over the nation’s foreign policy. “The relief sought by Plaintiffs is inconsistent with the Supreme Court’s instruction requiring this Court to respect the President’s Article II authority to manage foreign policy,” the government lawyers wrote.
“That is the ‘exclusive power of the President as the sole organ of the federal government in the field of international relations,’” they added.
The White House’s immigration deputies are working closely with El Salvador’s government. The country’s president Nayib Bukele has agreed to accept deported MS-13 migrants as well as migrants from other countries such as Venezuela and China.
Bukele is scheduled to visit Trump in the White House on April 14 and is likely to face loud questions from pro-immigration media outlets.
However, the administration confirmed on Saturday that Abrega Garcia is being held in El Salvador:
It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador. He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.
The administration’s defense of its authority over immigration law enforcement is apparently angering the judge. The Hill reported:
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis tore into the Justice Department at a Friday hearing for refusing to comply with her order for more information about a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador, and how the government is seeking his return.
“Have they done anything?” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, appearing visibly frustrated, pressed Deputy Assistant Attorney General Drew Ensign.
“Your honor, I don’t have personal knowledge,” Ensign responded.
“OK, so they’ve done nothing,” Xinis replied.
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