Laura Barron-Lopez:
That’s right.
Yesterday, the administration said in a court filing that Garcia is — quote — “alive and secure” in the CECOT mega-prison. But the federal judge, Paula Xinis, had ordered daily updates about what they were doing to bring back Abrego Garcia.
And the administration said in that filing — quote — “The federal courts have no authority to direct the executive branch to conduct foreign relations in a particular way or engage with a foreign sovereign in a given manner.”
Now, also today, Stephen Miller, a top adviser to President Trump, falsely claimed that the Supreme Court said that the lower district’s ruling was unlawful. Also, he claimed that the Supreme Court unanimously sided with the White House in this issue. And that’s not true.
The Supreme Court specifically said that the administration must facilitate Garcia’s — quote — “release from custody” in El Salvador and that the Trump administration needed to be prepared to share details about what they were doing to facilitate that release.
Now, SCOTUS has also ruled that due process is necessary for anyone that the administration is deporting in the manner that they had deported Abrego Garcia. And Trump officials repeatedly claimed today that Garcia himself is a member of MS-13, but the appeals court has said that the administration has provided no evidence that he is a member of the MS-13 gang.
So, when you break it down, William, a number of things that were said today by Trump officials, including A.G. Pam Bondi, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, is the opposite of what the administration is saying in court. They have repeatedly admitted in court that they made an administrative error.