Trump administration officials have repeatedly claimed that judges who order the administration to take action to bring deported Venezuelans back from the El Salvador prison where the U.S. sent them are meddling in the conduct of foreign policy. 'The foreign policy of the United States is conducted by President Donald J. Trump ' not by a court ' and no court in the United States has a right to conduct the foreign policy of the United States,' Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on April 14. His comments refer to cases including that of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran man who was deported to El Salvador on March 15, 2025, without any due process. The Trump administration says it will not bring him back to the U.S., despite a Supreme Court order to facilitate his return. The legal cases of Abrego Garcia and other noncitizens deported to El Salvador are far from simple. Chimene Keitner, a scholar of international law and civil litigation, answers a few key questions...
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