'Cruel and unusual punishment': Legal experts detail how Trump can make 'any US citizen disappear'

In an unanimous 9-0 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a lower federal court ruling that ordered the Trump Administration to "facilitate" the release of Kilmar Abrego Garcia — a Salvadoran man who was living in Maryland and wrongly deported to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador, where he is still being held.

Salon's Russell Payne, in an article published on April 16, addresses the broader implications of Garcia's case and other deportations to El Salvador under President Donald Trump. And according to legal experts, the Trump Administration is crossing a dangerous line by deporting Garcia and others to an infamous Salvador prison without due process.

Barbara McQuade, a former federal prosecutor and frequent legal analyst for MSNBC, told Salon, "They are taking a highly questionable interpretation of the word 'facilitate' to mean that they need only open the door if Mr. Abrego Garcia is able to get out of a terrorist prison. If they can do this, they can cause any American citizen to disappear without recourse. At some point, the court will need to hold an official in contempt for violating its order."

READ MORE: 'Deflection': Ex-GOP Rep. says Trump is trying to distract from 'volatile' and 'tumbling' economy

University of Texas law professor Jeffrey Abramson, warned that the Trump Administration "seems prepared to defy a federal court order and provoke a constitutional crisis."

Abramson told Salon, "In an unsigned unanimous order, the Supreme Court upheld the order insofar as it directed the Trump Administration to 'facilitate' the man's return, though the Court asked the judge to clarify what exactly it meant to 'effectuate' the man's return. But instead of cooperating, the Trump Administration has dug in, refused to do anything, and walked back its earlier concession that the deportation was unlawful."

Garcia, who is married to an American woman, is a legal resident of the U.S. but not a U.S. citizen. But Trump, during his meeting with visiting Salvadoran President Nayid Bukele in the White House, floated the idea of deporting U.S. citizens if they commit crimes — which, legal experts say, would be unconstitutional and illegal.

Bennett Gershman, a law professor at Pace University, told Salon, "For example, if Trump decides to deport a citizen to the El Salvador prison, as he has suggested he could do and would do under his broad foreign affairs power, and even though the citizen is protected by the Constitution from cruel and unusual punishment under the 8th Amendment, how is that right enforced?"

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

Russell Payne's full article for Salon is available at this link.