A senior government official on Wednesday disputed a news anchor’s summary of a recent Supreme Court ruling regarding a deported Maryland resident who is currently detained in El Salvador. The official asserted that the government had actually “won” the case.
The individual in question, a sheet metal worker who had lived in the U.S. for 14 years, was arrested in Baltimore on March 12 while picking up his five-year-old son. Authorities cited prior associations with a designated criminal organization. Later, it was revealed in court that his removal had occurred due to an “administrative error.”
Despite this acknowledgment, the government has stated that it is not legally obligated to return him, referencing documents that suggest ties to criminal activity. In a court filing, attorneys for the government argued that the judiciary cannot compel the executive branch to act, citing constitutional authority over international relations.
In a televised interview, the official objected strongly to the description that the deportation was a mistake. He emphasized that a lower court’s order requiring the government to retrieve the individual from El Salvador was overturned by the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that such an order overstepped judicial authority.
According to the official, the court clarified that while the government cannot be forced to extradite the individual, it may be required to “facilitate” a return—meaning that if the foreign government voluntarily repatriates him, U.S. authorities would not obstruct the process and would instead resume standard immigration proceedings.
The official concluded that the case had been misrepresented in media reports and stressed that the legal outcome favored the government’s stance on executive authority.
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