GREENBELT — Lawyers for the Trump administration on Friday said they’re unable to provide information on the location and status of a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported last month to a notorious prison in El Salvador.

The attorneys said they haven’t had enough time to review the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on Thursday that directed the administration to return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

A federal judge in Maryland directed the Trump administration to “take all available steps to facilitate the return” of Abrego Garcia following Thursday’s high court order.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis had also set a Friday morning deadline for a declaration from the administration addressing Abrego Garcia’s location and custodial status and what steps the administration has taken and will take to facilitate his return. An in-person status conference was set for Friday afternoon.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

In response to the judge’s request for information, Trump administration attorneys wrote in a Friday morning filing that it “is unreasonable and impracticable” for the U.S. government “to reveal potential steps before those steps are reviewed, agreed upon, and vetted.”

“Foreign affairs cannot operate on judicial timelines, in part because it involves sensitive country-specific considerations wholly inappropriate for judicial review,” the attorneys wrote.

In its ruling on Thursday, the Supreme Court rejected the administration’s emergency appeal of Xinis’ April 4 order for Abrego Garcia’s return.

The Salvadoran citizen had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.

The Supreme Court has issued a string of rulings on its emergency docket, where the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Trump amid a wave of lower court orders slowing the president’s sweeping agenda. In Thursday’s case, the court said Xinis’ order must be clarified to make sure it doesn’t intrude into executive branch power over foreign affairs, since Abrego Garcia is being held abroad.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.

The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.

The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it. The court’s liberal justices said the administration should have hastened to correct “its egregious error” and was “plainly wrong” to suggest it could not bring him home.

Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal has been an “emotional rollercoaster” for their family and the entire community.

“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. I will continue fighting until my husband is home,” she said.

The Baltimore Banner thanks its sponsors. Become one.

Xinis’ April 4 order said the government’s decision to arrest Abrego Garcia and send him to El Salvador appeared to be “wholly lawless.”

“There is little to no evidence to support a ‘vague, uncorroborated’ allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang,” the judge wrote.

The 29-year-old was detained by immigration agents and deported last month. He had a permit from the Homeland Security Department to legally work in the U.S. and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a U.S. citizen.

—-

Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.