Maine’s members of Congress called on President Donald Trump on Tuesday to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court court order to facilitate the return of a man who was mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran prison. Sen. Angus King said Trump’s refusal to do so “should strike fear and outrage in every American.”

During an Oval Office meeting Monday with the president of El Salvador, Trump said he would not seek the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, even though the White House admitted his deportation was an error. Trump also mused about his willingness to send “homegrowns” to foreign prisons in an apparent reference to U.S. citizens.

All four members of Maine’s delegation, personally or through a spokesperson, said Tuesday that the president should comply. King and Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-1st District, strongly criticized the president for openly defying the nation’s highest court.

King, an independent who causes with Democrats, said in a written statement that Trump’s refusal was “a clear violation” of an order from the U.S. Supreme Court. The president’s refusal “underlines the lawless nature of this administration,” he said, referring to efforts to conduct mass deportations and eliminate swaths of the federal workforce and cut spending, including eliminating entire departments, without authorization from Congress.

“The president and those acting on his behalf have taken numerous steps in the past 90 days that are in violation of law, the Constitution, and simple human decency, but this is the most chilling,” King said. “It is now past time for Congress, the courts, and the people to draw the line and put a stop to this ongoing abuse of everything this country stands for.”

A spokesperson for Republican Sen. Susan Collins said Maine’s senior senator is urging the administration to follow court orders.

“Senator Collins believes in due process, and that it is incumbent upon public officials to obey court orders,” spokeswoman Blake Kernen wrote in an email. “She supports efforts to detain and deport terrorists and other criminals who are in this country illegally. In this case, the court has directed the administration to facilitate Mr. Garcia’s return.”

Abrego Garcia was deported last month without due process, after the Trump administration accused him of being an MS-13 gang member on Long Island, New York, where he has never lived. The 29-year-old Maryland man, who has lived in the U.S. for 14 years, is married and is raising three children with disabilities, denies any gang affiliation and has never been charged with criminal gang activity.

The administration admitted in a court filing that his deportation to a notorious Salvadoran prison, which is known for its brutal conditions, was “an administrative error.” Trump has sent more than 200 deportees to the CECOT maximum security prison, which can hold up to 40,000 inmates and is considered one of the largest prisons in the Americas. 

A federal district court and the U.S. Supreme Court have ordered the administration to seek Abrego Garcia’s return, but the administration says it has no plans to do so.

Joseph Mazzara, acting general counsel for the Department of Homeland Security, said in a court filing Monday that the U.S. can’t “forcibly extract” Abrego Garcia, because he is being held by a foreign sovereign nation. He also said Abrego Garcia is not eligible for reentry because the U.S. has designated the MS-13 gang as a foreign terrorist organization, and the administration still considers him to be a member despite not providing evidence.

King said the administration’s alleged helplessness to retrieve him is “nonsense,” adding Trump “has plenty of diplomatic tools at his disposal if he’d pursue them.”

CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION

Rep. Jared Golden. D-2nd District, said the president has a constitutional obligation to follow court orders.

“The right to due process is enshrined in our Constitution for good reason, just like the separation of powers and our system of checks and balances,” Golden said in a written statement. “The president has an obligation to comply with court orders, and he should direct his administration to do so.”

Pingree criticized the administration, saying Abrego Garcia had “a valid court order allowing him to remain in the U.S.”

“This is not a policy dispute — it is a direct, unconstitutional defiance of the rule of law,” Pingree said in a written statement. “The Supreme Court is not asking Trump to set foreign policy. It is ordering the correction of a grave injustice. And yet, the president is openly refusing to comply.”

Both Pingree and King called out Trump for saying that he would be willing to send “homegrowns” to the same prison. His comments were captured and posted online by Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, who calls himself the world’s “coolest dictator.”

King said “literally no one is safe,” a point Pingree expounded upon, calling it a “dystopian precedent.”

“If he can deport someone who was lawfully present, what’s stopping this president from deporting anyone?” Pingree said. “If he can deport students protesting on college campuses because they disagree with his views on Gaza, he can deport anybody — and he believes he can get away with it. That’s the dystopian precedent Donald Trump is setting.

“This is not just about Kilmar Abrego Garcia. It is about the fundamental question of whether the president of the United States is bound by the Constitution — or whether he believes he can ignore it when it suits him.”

This report includes material from The Associated Press.