A deported man will not be coming back to the United States just yet after the Supreme Court stepped in to stop a lower court’s order.

Chief Justice John Roberts paused a ruling from US District Judge Paula Xinis, who had ordered that Kilmar Abrego Garcia be returned to the US. The order came after Abrego Garcia and his family filed a lawsuit over his deportation.

“IT IS ORDERED that the April 4, 2025 order of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, case No. 8:25-cv-951, is hereby stayed pending further order of the undersigned or of the Court. It is further ordered that a response to the application be filed on or before Tuesday, April 8th, 2025, by 5 p.m. (EDT),” the Supreme Court order read.

Judge Xinis had ruled that Abrego Garcia be brought back to the US by 11:59 p.m. on Monday. He was deported on March 15 on a flight to El Salvador. The Department of Justice told the Supreme Court that his removal happened through an “administrative error,” but also said that deporting him “was not an error,” according to Reuters.

Abrego Garcia had received protection from deportation back in 2019. However, the DOJ said he was tied to the MS-13 gang and had lost eligibility for protection. His lawyers deny that he has any gang ties.

In her decision on Sunday, Judge Xinis wrote that the 2019 order was still valid and that “there were no legal grounds whatsoever for his arrest, detention or removal.” She added that the deportation was “wholly lawless.”

The DOJ pushed back in its filing, saying, “The United States cannot guarantee success in sensitive international negotiations in advance, least of all when a court imposes an absurdly compressed, mandatory deadline that vastly complicates the give-and-take of foreign-relations negotiations.”

They added, “The United States does not control the sovereign nation of El Salvador, nor can it compel El Salvador to follow a federal judge’s bidding.”

The legal fight will continue as the Supreme Court considers what happens next.