In another jolt for US President Donald Trump’s administration in courts, a US judge asked the government lawyer on Wednesday if the Republican president was telling the truth about wrongly deported migrant Kilmar Abrego Garcia that he could secure his return with a phone call to El Salvador’s president.
A US District Judge James Boasberg, based in Washington DC, asked the question to government lawyer Abhishek Kambli in a different case, where the federal government has argued that it cannot obtain the custody of some 137 Venezuelan migrants, who were deported under the Alien Enemies Act and are currently in Salvadoran mega-prison.
Referring to President Trump’s comments during his interview on April 30 on ABC News, Judge Boasberg asked “Didn’t the president say just last week that he could secure the return of Mr. Abrego Garcia simply by picking up the phone and asking the president of El Salvador to release him? So is the President not telling the truth?”
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia of Maryland, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference at CASA’s Multicultural Center in Hyattsville, Md. (AP)
The government counsel Abhishek responded to the judge’s question arguing that the influence of the United States over the potential release of migrants doesn’t mean that they were in the custody of US.
Representing the deported Venezuelans, the American Civil Liberties Union has argued that they must be ordered to return and the Trump administration should facilitate it as the deported individuals weren’t given an adequate chance to challenge their deportations under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.
The Maryland man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, was deported by the US authorities to El Salvador on March 15 in an apparent mistake by the Trump administration but the White House has stated that it can’t retrieve Abrego Garcia after mistakenly deporting him. However, the US Supreme Court had ordered the federal authorities to facilitate Garcia’s return.
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