In a controversial move Thursday, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals denied the Trump administration’s emergency request to stop a lower court order requiring the U.S. government to “facilitate” the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal alien and alleged MS-13 gang member, who was previously deported to El Salvador.
The ruling came from a three-judge panel composed of Judges Harvie Wilkinson (Reagan), Robert King (Clinton), and Stephanie Thacker (Obama). In a particularly eyebrow-raising twist, Judge Wilkinson, a Reagan appointee, repeatedly referred to Abrego Garcia as a “resident,” despite the fact that he has never held legal status in the United States.
Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national, was ordered removed from the U.S. in 2019 after being identified as a member of MS-13, one of the most violent transnational gangs in the world. He is now being held in El Salvador’s CECOT prison, a high-security facility used for dangerous criminals, including gang members.
But Judge Wilkinson wasn’t concerned about his rap sheet. In his seven-page opinion, Wilkinson wrote that the Trump administration is essentially trying to “stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons” without “the semblance of due process.”
Yes, you read that right—he’s calling an illegal immigrant with a known history of domestic abuse and alleged gang activity a resident.
The court’s ruling insists that the U.S. must “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release and return him as if he had never been deported. The judges argue that the administration can’t simply ignore the Supreme Court’s previous interpretation of the case, even if El Salvador refuses to release him.
“This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear,” Wilkinson wrote.
But what’s actually shocking to most Americans is that an MS-13 member who reportedly beat his wife and lived in this country illegally is being treated like a victim of injustice.
During earlier court proceedings, the DOJ rightly noted that if Abrego Garcia showed up at a port of entry, he’d be immediately taken into custody and deported again.
That sounds like common sense. But apparently, under the logic of the Fourth Circuit, we owe violent illegal aliens a roundtrip ticket and the full weight of the U.S. legal system—all while American families suffer the consequences.