Newsweek 

To Get Deportee Back, the Supreme Court Must Make Trump Feel Pain

Published Apr 15, 2025 at 12:30 PM EDT

Thomas G. Moukawsher

 

As Kurt Vonnegut might have put it, the excrement has hit the air conditioning. Somewhere around now, behind closed doors and black robes, nine justices of the Supreme Court of the United States know they’re being mocked by President Donald Trump and his recent guest, Nayib Bukele, the president of El Salvador. What will the justices do about it?

The court recently upheld an order for the United States to “facilitate”—and depending on how it’s defined—”effectuate” the return of a man the administration admits it mistakenly deported to one of the great hell holes of earth—the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) in El Salvador. The man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, came here illegally, but he has no criminal record, there was no proof he was a gang member, and he had the benefit of a court order that he not be deported to El Salvador.

Now the administration is making a mockery of the order. It Bukele even flew up to join in the fun, declaring in the Oval Office in front of a smiling Trump, “of course I’m not going to do it.” What do they have to do before the Supreme Court takes this seriously, climb up the courthouse steps and slap each one of the justices in the face?

Unfortunately, the justices asked for this treatment when they gave Trump enormous loopholes in their recent order. They suggested that Judge Paula Xinis likely couldn’t order Trump’s administration to effectuate Abrego Garcia’s return—to ensure it actually happened. Instead, the Court said Trump must “facilitate” it—which the administration promptly interpreted as meaning that if Abrego Garcia magically showed up on U.S. soil, they wouldn’t bonk him on the head and throw him out again—at least immediately.

Can’t the justices tell Trump and Bukele are lying? They are refusing to return Abrego Garcia, not encountering insuperable obstacles to it. The lower court already found that El Salvador is only holding Abrego Garcia and the others “pending the United States decision on [their] long-term disposition.”

Why then—oh why—didn’t the court mention this fact in its order instead of buying into the oh-so-secret, sensitive, and scary scatology served up by Trump’s minions about foreign affairs. This matter isn’t about foreign affairs. It’s about the Executive Branch doing something within the president’s power that has been ordered by a court.

Yes, we can sympathize with the high court as it tries to head off a showdown with the Trump administration. But shouldn’t they understand Trump by now? He is a mini-mafia boss, a bully who backs down when people stand up to him and runs roughshod when they don’t. Many of the law firms, government employees, universities, and foreign countries who have stood up to him are winning.

So, it’s time for the courts to walk their deportee talk. Everyday, in hundreds of courtrooms across the United States, courts issue orders that defendants say they can’t possibly comply with. The courts don’t believe them—and real consequences flow from it. Just picture a courtroom full of deadbeat dads saying they can’t raise the money for child support. Some of the excuses are legitimate but many are bogus. The liars are locked up until they pay. Polluters falsely claiming they can’t clean up after themselves face thousands in fines until they stop stalling and do what courts say.

The president is no more above the law then these people. The Supreme Court’s immunity decision obviously gave Trump the impression that he is, but he missed that part of the decision where the court said that when presidents act lawlessly—exercising mere “individual will”—the courts must stop them.

Justices, there’s nowhere to hide. Let the lower court build a record. It issued a clear directive. Trump himself controls this matter and is ignoring the order. Xinis should fine Trump personally in an amount he will pay attention to—let’s say $5 million a day collectible after he leaves office—until he obeys.