CNN Legal Analyst Accuses Trump Admin of ‘Stunning Confession of Impotence’ if They Can’t Return Man Mistakenly Deported to El Salvador

CNN Supreme Court analyst Steve Vladeck accused the White House of making a “stunning confession of impotence” over a man mistakenly deported to a megaprison in El Salvador.

The Supreme Court previously ruled that President Donald Trump’s administration must “facilitate” the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia after a district court judge ordered his return. Vladeck argued that the administration is acting as if the Supreme Court gave an “opposite” ruling as they continue to claim Garcia is a member of the gang MS-13, which his lawyers have adamantly denied.

The administration did admit that Garcia was deported to the prison due to an “administrative error,” but neither they nor El Salvador’s president have given any indication he will be returned to the United States.

“I don’t have the power to return him to the United States,” El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said on Monday from the White House.

Vladeck joined CNN’s Kate Bolduan on Tuesday and argued the Supreme Court’s order was just vague enough by not giving a deadline to give the administration “wiggle room” when it comes to Garcia’s deportation.

“Maybe the Supreme Court was hoping that the Trump administration would take the hint that that decision was unanimous and would actually try to exert some pressure, diplomatic pressure, financial pressure on El Salvador to comply. I think we now know, even if we didn’t last Thursday, that that’s not going to happen,” the Georgetown University professor said.

Vladeck predicted more “aggressive steps” from the court to push the administration to return Garcia.

He said:

I don’t doubt for a second it’s going to further the government to take more aggressive steps to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return, to put diplomatic pressure, to put economic pressure on El Salvador. You know, if the Trump administration says, you know, we tried and we can’t. One, Kate, that’s a pretty stunning concession of impotence on the part of this administration. But two, I think the other piece of this is that’s going to create a lot of pressure on federal courts in every other immigration case to not let anybody be removed from the country until we’re absolutely sure that all the i’s have been dotted and all the t’s been crossed.

Watch above via CNN.