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New York Times reporter Maggie Haberman explained why President Donald Trump wants a “fight” with the Supreme Court on Wednesday as his administration defies the court’s order to facilitate the return of a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador.
“You saw that today. You have seen that every day that they talk about immigration. They think that the court of public opinion is generally on their side. And they would certainly rather be talking about this than talking about tariffs or talking about economic confidence decreasing,” she told CNN’s Kaitlan Collins.
Trump officials have claimed that it’s up to El Salvador to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia — whom the administration sent to a maximum security Salvadoran prison known for its brutal conditions — to the United States.
The administration has also doubled down on a 2019 accusation that Garcia — a father of three from El Salvador who was living in the U.S. legally for 14 years — was an MS-13 gang member. Both Garcia and his wife have denied the claim.
The Supreme Court, in an order last week, told the Trump administration it must work to facilitate the repatriation of Garcia.
In a separate case, a federal judge on Wednesday declared that there’s cause to hold Trump officials in criminal contempt for ignoring his orders to turn flights around that carried Venezuelan migrants to the Salvadoran prison.
Haberman, when asked about the two cases, noted that the “general feeling” of the Trump administration is that it has “better odds than not” with the Supreme Court.
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“Because the Supreme Court generally is not going to want to dictate — the conservative justices — are not going to want to try to look like they are dictating how the U.S. handles some aspect of immigration enforcement or foreign policy,” Haberman said.
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