Due Process and the Abrego Garcia Case

The Supreme Court ruled on the evening of April 10 that the Trump administration must comply with a lower court’s order to “facilitate” the release from custody of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, an immigrant who was deported without a hearing to a mega prison in El Salvador. The case underscores the issue of due process and what legal protections are afforded to noncitizens.

Here, we’ll explain what due process means, any limitations in its application to noncitizens, and the details of the Abrego Garcia case. In the process, we’ll fact-check some comments officials have made about the case.

The Trump administration, which has said that Abrego Garcia was accidentally deported due to an “administrative error,” has stalled on bringing him back despite court orders, arguing that U.S. agencies do “not have authority to forcibly extract an alien from the domestic custody of a foreign sovereign nation.” Abrego Garcia was among the more than 250 immigrants who were deported by the administration to El Salvador on March 15.