"I find it troubling that the Supreme Court is telling the Trump administration to attempt to bring Garcia back to the United States."Actually, if you pay attention to what
exactly was said, the SCOTUS never said that.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a949_lkhn.pdfKey parts of the opinion:
"The application is granted in part and denied in part, subject to the direction of this order. "
And here's the meat of it:
"the Government's emergency application is effectively granted in part and the deadline in the challenged order is no longer effective. The rest of the District Court's order remains in effect but requires clarification on remand. The order properly requires the Government to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador. The intended scope of the term "effectuate" in the District Court's order is, however, unclear, and may exceed the District Court's authority. The District Court should clarify its directive, with due regard for the deference owed to the Executive Branch in the conduct of foreign affairs."(Bold emphasis added)
That clause about the limits to the District Court's authority is SCOTUS politely reminding the district judge that foreign policy decisions are strictly Article II territory. Note that the last sentence reaffirms this point.
Now the media has assumed that 'facilitating' Garcia's "release from custody in El Salvador", means returning him to the United States, but that is not really said anywhere.
For one thing, Garcia is not a legal citizen or resident, and therefore has no right to enter the United States, even if the deportation to El Salvador was in error. Note also that there was already a valid deportation order in effect; only the fact that he was sent to El Salvador earned the court's scrutiny. As a result, the court could only order the US Government to 'facilitate' Garcia's release from El Salvadoran custody. The problem here is that even the US Supreme Court cannot order a foreign government to release a prisoner in their custody.
So, unless the government of El Salvador decides to let Garcia go or hand him over to the US Government, this is for all serious purposes a moot point.
That is, except that the District judge needs to understand the limits of jurisdiction, and the SCOTUS may rebuke the US Government and warn that any similar future situations would provoke consequences. In this regard, it makes sense that the Government would say that the transport of Garcia to El Salvador was an accident, as that would make it unreasonable for the court to take any further actions.
That which does not kill me, will try again and get nastier