If the U.S. government is going to take the position that, once removed from the United States, folks can’t be brought back, then it sure seems to me that federal courts should be reflexively and categorically barring *all* removals until they’re 100 percent certain that the removals are lawful.

Before folks overreact to headlines about the judge’s ruling in the Khalil case, please note that (1) it was an immigration judge (IJ), not a federal district court; and (2) the IJ had no power to consider Khalil’s constitutional objections. This particular decision was a fait accompli.

The problem with this ruling is the presumption of regularity. In any other administration, a remand with instructions to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return would lead to honest representations about what is—and isn’t—possible. In this administration, there’s no reason to expect straight answers. RE:

Bluesky Social

Steve Vladeck (@stevevladeck.bsky.social)

#BREAKING: Supreme Court holds that Trump administration must attempt to “facilitate” the return of Wilmer Armando Abrego García from El Salva...

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#BREAKING: Supreme Court holds that Trump administration must attempt to “facilitate” the return of Wilmer Armando Abrego García from El Salvador, but remands to the district court to sort out exactly what the administration can and must do going forward: [s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25...](📄.pdf ) [s3.documentcloud.org/documents/2589...](📄.pdf )