It’s being called “an emotional roller coaster” by the family of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, and now that the Supreme Court has ruled in the Beltsville, Maryland, man’s favor, President Donald Trump’s administration is being urged to return him home as soon as possible.
“The law was on our side. The facts are on our side,” said Ama Frimpong, one of Abrego Garcia’s lawyers, who is also the legal director for the immigrant rights group CASA. She spoke exclusively with WTOP while traveling out of state. “For us, it wasn’t necessarily a question of whether, but a question of when. We wanted to see this come as quickly as possible.”
On Thursday, the Supreme Court said the Trump administration must work to bring back Abrego Garcia, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.
For now, the legal team is hoping to get an update on Abrego Garcia’s condition, saying he hasn’t been heard from at all since his deportation last month.
“We have no report on how he is doing,” she said. “This is why it’s so important that the decision has come this quickly, because it is imperative that we get news about him, and not just get news about him, get him back home as quickly as possible.”
“Every minute that Kilmar is in that prison, his life is at risk,” she added.
In a statement, Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, called the last month “an emotional roller coaster” for her, their children and the rest of the family.
“I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at its end,” she said in the statement distributed by CASA. “I will continue fighting until my husband is home.”
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a infamously secure Salvadoran prison, returned to the U.S. by midnight on Monday.
However, it’s not clear if that will happen. While the court noted Xinis’ deadline had passed, it did not specify a deadline. Frimpong, however, is hopeful it’ll be soon, and said Abrego Garcia’s case will go before a judge again if things don’t move quickly.
“Everyone right now is just eagerly waiting,” she said. “The family is eagerly waiting for him to come home. Right now, all eyes are on the government to move quickly to comply with the court’s order.”
In a statement to WTOP, the White House said Trump has the exclusive ability to “conduct foreign affairs,” adding that the ruling “illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”
The next hearing on Abrego Garcia’s case is on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
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