United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio has indicated the administration of President Donald Trump may flout a judge’s order requiring it to provide information about efforts to return a wrongly deported man from El Salvador.At a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, the top diplomat was asked if he had formally requested the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador.
Rubio responded, “I would never tell you that. And you know who else I’d never tell? A judge.”
He added that he does not feel bound by the court order. “Because the conduct of our foreign policy belongs to the president of the United States and the executive branch, not some judge.”
The statements underscored the Trump administration’s defiant stance towards judicial checks on its power.
In the case of Abrego Garcia, US District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered government lawyers to offer updates about measures the Trump administration had taken to return Abrego Garcia to the US. On April 15, she announced she would seek sworn testimony about those efforts from administration officials. Advertisement
But Xinis temporarily halted the directive last week at the administration’s request.
With the pause expiring at 5pm on Wednesday (21:00 GMT), she has scheduled new deadlines in May for administration officials to provide sworn testimony about what had been done to retrieve Abrego Garcia.
A resident of Maryland, Abrego Garcia has been held in El Salvador since March 15, when he was among the immigrants …