By Marijke Friedman, Akshaj Gaur and Natalie Weger

The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that President Donald Trump’s administration must return a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

The order requires the government to facilitate Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador, the Supreme Court wrote in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ruled on April 4 that the Trump administration must bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States by the end of the day April 7. The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Virginia, upheld Xinis’ ruling after the Trump administration appealed her decision.

But Chief Justice John Roberts Jr. temporarily paused Xinis’ ruling on Monday, which allowed the Supreme Court to review the appeal.

Justice department officials on Friday refused to meet Xinis’ deadline to provide an update about steps taken by the Trump administration to ensure Abrego Garcia’s return, The Washington Post reported. In an order after the hearing, Xinis wrote that the administration must provide daily updates on Abrego Garcia’s location and the steps being taken to facilitate his return.

Thursday’s ruling comes after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported Abrego Garcia due to an “administrative error,” the justice department wrote in a court filing.

[Supreme Court pauses federal ruling demanding US return wrongly deported Maryland man]

Abrego Garcia was arrested on March 12 and was later deported to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, which is “one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere,” Xinis wrote in her decision on Sunday, reaffirming her original order. He originally fled El Salvador and came to the U.S. without authorization in about 2011, according to the Associated Press.

ICE arrested Abrego Garcia in 2019 because of alleged ties to the international gang MS-13, the Associated Press reported. After the arrest, an immigration judge granted Abrego Garcia protection from deportation to El Salvador. Abrego Garcia faced a “clear possibility of persecution” if he returned to El Salvador, Xinis wrote in her ruling Sunday.

The justice department has claimed that Abrego Garcia is a member of the international gang MS-13 and that he presented a “danger to the community,” according to its Supreme Court appeal.

Abrego Garcia and his lawyers have repeatedly denied the claims. Xinis wrote in a memo that the assertions against Abrego Garcia stemmed from a “singular unsubstantiated allegation.”

According to the Associated Press, the claims tying Abrego Garcia to MS-13 stem from a confidential informant who said he belonged to the gang’s New York chapter. But Abrego Garcia never lived in New York, the news agency reported.

U.S. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-Md.) urged Trump to return Abrego Garcia in a statement on Thursday.

“If the President is serious about law and order, then he will follow this 9-0 Supreme Court ruling with urgency and return Kilmar to his family here in Maryland,” the statement read.