President Donald Trump cast doubt on interpretations of a recent Supreme Court decision that suggested his deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an illegal immigrant who lived in Maryland, was unconstitutional.
During a Meet the Press interview with NBC host Kristen Welker that aired Sunday, Trump provided assurances he would not run for a third term. He was also pressed on whether he was “defying the Supreme Court” by not bringing Abrego Garcia back to the U.S. from El Salvador, where the immigrant was deported in March.
The Supreme Court ruled in April that the White House must “facilitate” Garcia’s return to the U.S., which was hailed by Trump critics as a victory. The White House, however, emphasized a line in the ruling saying that a lower court’s previous order on the matter must clarify what it meant by saying the Trump administration must “effectuate” Garcia’s return.
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Trump said Sunday that he was relying on an interpretation of the Supreme Court’s ruling from his lawyers at the Justice Department, led by Attorney General Pam Bondi. The president said he is only able to ask El Salvador to return Garcia if he is directed to do so by Bondi, adding that his legal team is considering asking for clarification from the Supreme Court as to what it meant by “facilitate.”
When pressed by Welker on whether he agreed with Secretary of State Marco Rubio that “everyone who’s here, citizens and noncitizens, deserve due process,” Trump replied, “I don’t know. I’m not. I’m not a lawyer.”
“It seems, it seems [the Fifth Amendment] might say that, but if you’re talking about that, then we’d have to have a million or 2 million or 3 million trials. We have thousands of people that are some murderers and some drug dealers and some of the worst people on Earth, some of the worst, most dangerous people on Earth, and I was elected to get them the hell out of here, and the courts are holding me from doing it,” he said.
Welker pressed again: “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?”
“I don’t know,” Trump replied. “I have to respond by saying, again, I have brilliant lawyers that work for me, and they are going to obviously follow what the Supreme Court said. What you said is not what I heard the Supreme Court said. [Trump’s lawyers] have a different interpretation.”
When asked if he was “defying” the country’s highest court, Trump replied, “No, I’m relying on the attorney general of the United States, Pam Bondi, who’s very capable.”
“I’m not involved in the legality or the illegality. I have lawyers to do that,” he said. “And they’re not viewing the [Supreme Court] decision the way you [Welker] said it. They don’t view it that way at all. They think it’s a totally different decision.”
Abrego Garcia is an illegal immigrant whom the Trump administration deported due to accusations that he was an MS-13 gang member from El Salvador. Two courts have affirmed findings that there was “credible evidence” he was an MS-13 gang member. However, a judge blocked his deportation to El Salvador due to concerns that the gang would target him in the country.
The White House mistakenly targeted him for removal in March and sent him to El Salvador, his country of origin, due to an “administrative error,” according to the Trump administration, but proceeded with the removal due to his prior history, sparking outrage from Democrats that his right to due process was violated because of the court order blocking his deportation to the country.
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Trump said Sunday he holds the power “to ask for him to come back if I’m instructed by the attorney general that it’s legal to do so, but the decision as to whether or not he should come back will be the head of El Salvador — a very capable man.”
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration could continue using the Alien Enemies Act to carry out rapid deportations. The White House may use the 1798 law, which is traditionally used in times of war, although detainees must be given due process to challenge their removal in the district where they were detained, the court said.
