Legal experts are raising red flags over a recent deportation case that they say could have dangerous consequences—even for American citizens.
The case involves Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man the Trump administration admitted it wrongfully deported. But instead of bringing him back, the U.S. government argued that no court had the power to force it to return someone—even when the deportation was a mistake.
That argument was challenged all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which issued a unanimous decision: the government must help secure Abrego Garcia’s release from a prison in El Salvador, where he’s currently being held. Despite this ruling, the Department of Justice has so far only acknowledged that he’s at that prison, without taking steps to bring him back.
This situation has sparked serious concern among legal scholars.
“If the government can deport someone unlawfully and face no consequences, what stops them from doing it to anyone—even a U.S. citizen?” warned Laurence Tribe, a constitutional law professor emeritus at Harvard University.
Observers say this case reveals a frightening loophole. If the courts don’t have the power to intervene, then the federal government could, in theory, send anyone overseas without a fair hearing and leave them there—stripped of their rights and legal protection.
As the case unfolds, it is becoming a test of how far government power can reach, and whether constitutional rights can truly protect individuals from wrongful exile.
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