'It’s the law': Observers fact-check Trump official asking 'what’s the point' of complying with SCOTUS

During a mid-April appearance on Fox News, President Donald Trump's border official, Tom Homan, vigorously defended the deportation of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran man living in Maryland, to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. And social media users are reminding Homan that the U.S. Supreme Court is calling for Garcia to be returned to the United States.

A lower federal court ordered the Trump Administration to "facilitate" Garcia's release from El Salvador's maximum-security CECOT prison, and the High Court upheld that ruling 9-0.

But on Fox News, Homan defended Garcia's imprisonment, alleging that Garcia is a member of the M3-13 gang — a claim Garcia's family and supporters vehemently deny.

READ MORE: 'Mugged by reality': How the 'dissident right' is rebelling against MAGA

Homan told Fox News, "Every time I read a story about this, it's 'Maryland father, Maryland father.' They don't mention he's a member of MS-13…. They don't mention he's an El Salvadorian citizen being held by the country of El Salvador…. We'll facilitate, but El Salvador has full authority on this…. But what's the sense of bringing someone back that's simply going to face deportation again?"

The interview is receiving a lot of reactions on X, formerly Twitter.

ABC News' Terry Moran tweeted, "It’s the law, under a unanimous Supreme Court ruling."

X user Johan Nilson Nagel noted that Garcia hasn't been convicted of anything, posting, "Why would he be deported again when he was legal resident, he committed no crimes."

READ MORE: 'Death Master File': How DOGE won 'a momentous internal battle' over an illegal 'novel strategy'

Tech activist Craig Thomler said of Homan's claims, "This is a lie.The man has committed no crimes, has no gang ties, was legally employed & was legally in the USA applying for citizenship, while married to a U.S. citizen with kids who are U.S. citizens. His is the immigrant success story that built the USA."

X user Laura Worley wrote, "Everyone knows that El Salvador — [President Nayib] Bukele — would release Abrego Garcia in a millisecond if Trump asked him to. Why Trump doesn't want to correct his administration’s 'administrative error (THEIR WORDS) is baffling. And there is zero evidence that Abrego Garcia was MS-13."

Democratic X user Patti Siwicki tweeted, "I know Trump is immune from civil suits but can't Abrego Garcia's family sue Homan and [United States Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi] Noem for damages since they violated a court order deporting him in error? Make the damages increase exponentially for every day he is wrongly held.

READ MORE: 'No historical analogy': Voters 'abandoning' Trump 'in record numbers'

Watch the video below or at this link.