Appeals court says Trump administration's claims in case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia should be "shocking" to Americans
CBSN
Washington — A federal appeals court said Thursday that the Trump administration's assertions in the case of a Maryland man who it admitted was mistakenly deported to El Salvador should be "shocking" to all Americans and made an appeal to the executive branch to vindicate the importance of the rule of law.
The brief unanimous opinion authored by Judge Harvie Wilkinson of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4th Circuit rejected a request from the Trump administration to pause a district judge's order that required it to facilitate the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old who lives in Maryland, from Salvadoran custody, and explain the steps it has taken to return him to the U.S.
"The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order," Wilkinson, who was appointed by President Ronald Reagan, wrote. "Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done. This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear."
