The article centers around the controversial deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a wrongly deported father of three, to El Salvador's dangerous CECOT prison. The case involves numerous key figures: Vice President JD Vance, who initially criticized the situation but later seemed to shift his focus; Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson, who condemned the Trump administration's actions; Judge Paula Xinis, who ordered Abrego Garcia's return; and President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador, who refused to cooperate. Senator Chris Van Hollen visited Abrego Garcia in El Salvador.
The Trump administration's actions faced significant legal challenges and criticism for their alleged lack of due process and disregard for a court order mandating Abrego Garcia's return. Judge Wilkinson's opinion described the administration's behavior as “shocking” and a violation of constitutional order. Judge Xinis also issued a scathing memorandum criticizing the administration's actions as “wholly lawless.”
The Trump administration, including Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, defended its actions, downplaying the severity of the situation. President Bukele also sided with the Trump administration, refusing to cooperate in bringing Abrego Garcia back to the United States. The Supreme Court, however, unanimously ruled that the administration must facilitate his return. Despite this ruling, Trump officials have reportedly ignored the calls to bring him back.
Vice President Vance initially expressed anger on social media, criticizing the situation. However, he later appeared to shift his focus, posting about his Good Friday celebrations in Rome. This change in demeanor suggests a possible alteration of priorities for the Vice President.
Vice President JD Vance went into a tailspin Friday after a Reagan-appointed judge blasted the administration’s “shocking” inability to retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the wrongly deported father of three who is still trapped in El Salvador’s mega prison.
“Call me crazy, but if you got two hearings and a valid deportation order, then you shouldn’t be in the United States‚” Vance huffed on X, though his ire seemed to subside a few hours later when he posted about how “grateful” he was for being in Rome on Good Friday and going to church with his family.
Call me crazy but if you got two hearings and a valid deportation order then you shouldn’t be in the United States.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) April 18, 2025
An appointee of former President Ronald Reagan, Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson wrote a blistering opinion Thursday that insisted President Donald Trump was “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 a strong contender for chief justice of the Supreme Court under George W. Bush—was also part of a three-judge panel that unanimously agreed that Trump’s top officials, including Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Attorney General Pam Bondi, must fulfill a judge’s request for sworn testimony about their failure to bring Abrego Garcia home.
“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter,” the Fourth Circuit ruling said. “But in this case, it is not hard at all.”
Abrego Garcia was swept up in Trump’s massive deportation blitz and was taken from his family in Maryland on March 15. The Trump administration expelled him because of an admitted “administrative error” and threw him into El Salvador’s mega prison complex, CECOT. To check in on his safety—and ensure he was alive—Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland, visited him in El Salvador on Friday.
I said my main goal of this trip was to meet with Kilmar. Tonight I had that chance. I have called his wife, Jennifer, to pass along his message of love. I look forward to providing a full update upon my return. pic.twitter.com/U9y2gZpxCb
— Senator Chris Van Hollen (@ChrisVanHollen) April 18, 2025
The Trump administration has accused Garcia of being an MS-13 gang member, which he has vehemently denied. He has never been convicted or charged with a crime, and in 2019, a judge ruled that he could legally live and work in the United States.
Maryland District Court Judge Paula Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, faced off against Trump in early April and ordered him to return Abrego Garcia, slamming the administration for its “wholly lawless” and grievous” mistake.
“As Defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador—let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere," she wrote in a scathing memorandum.
But self-described “world’s coolest dictator” Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador, has sided with the Trump administration on their refusal to rescue Abrego Garcia from the notorious facility, which is widely known for its human rights violations.
“Are you suggesting I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” he scoffed in a Monday meeting with Trump. “How can I return him to the United States, like I smuggled him into the United States? Of course, I’m not going to do it. The question is preposterous.”
The Supreme Court unanimously agreed that the administration must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return, but Trump officials have ignored all calls to bring him back.
“Based on the sensationalism of many of the people in this room, you would think we deported a candidate for Father of the Year,” snapped White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during a press briefing.
The Trump administration has previously slammed federal judges who challenge its policies, including James Boasberg, chief judge of the Washington, D.C., district court, who dared hold Trump accountable for Abrego Garcia. The president called Boasberg a “radical left lunatic” worthy of impeachment and has made similar claims about the other federal “activist” judges who defy him.
Vance did a 180 a few hours after his temper tantrum Friday upon meeting Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
“I wish all Christians all over the world, but particularly those back home in the US, a blessed Good Friday,” he posted.
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