Trump defies Supreme Court order to return man from El Salvador

There is a very interesting game of chicken going on right now between the Trump administration and the courts.

The Trump administration lost a Supreme Court ruling, but it is spinning, and now it is even defying the Court’s ruling to “facilitate” the return of an illegal immigrant from El Salvador.

Facilitate his return

When the Supreme Court ruled on Abrego Garcia's return, it did say that the administration had to “facilitate” his return, but it offered no timeline for that.

The Court also slapped the lower court on the knuckles a bit for interfering in foreign relations, all but accusing the lower court of overstepping its bounds.

While the administration focused on one line in the order, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, a lawyer for Abrego Garcia, took the ruling as a win.

He stated, "The Supreme Court upheld the district judge's order that the government has to bring Kilmar home. Now they need to stop wasting time and get moving."

Defying the court

Initially, Trump stated that if the Court ordered him to return Garcia, he would abide by its ruling, but that position changed rather quickly.

On Monday, Attorney General Pam Bondi appeared to take the lead on this, saying it was now up to El Salvador to decide if it wanted to return the man, not the United States.

When asked about the return of Garcia, she responded, "That's up to El Salvador if they want to return him. That's not up to us.” She later added, "The Supreme Court ruled precedent that if El Salvador wanted to return him. This is international matters, foreign affairs."

My take on this is that the administration is walking a fine line, as it has already stated that it knows where Garcia is. I think the administration is putting a wild spin on the Supreme Court ruling and it is opening itself up to contempt charges. But nowadays, you just never know, so this is going to be a bit of a wild ride while the courts sort all of this out.

Dem Senator goes rogue

On top of all this, it was announced this week that Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) has decided to go to El Salvador on his own to retrieve Garcia, or at least work with local officials to have him returned.

Van Hollen told reporters, “I’m asking President Bukele under his authority as president of El Salvador to do the right thing and allow Mr. Abrego Garcia to walk out of a prison — a man who’s charged with no crime, convicted of no crime and who was illegally abducted from the United States.”

He later added, “We have an unjust situation here, the Trump administration is lying about Abrego Garcia.”

This could be a career-ending move for Van Hollen if the allegations by the Trump administration against Garcia are true. How can a politician explain to his constituents that he took a taxpayer-funded trip to El Salvador to bring a member of one of the most notorious gangs in the world back to the United States? On the other hand, if they prove Garcia is not a member of MS-13, it will wreck this administration and the GOP in upcoming elections. This is about as high stakes as it gets.