WASHINGTON: The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Trump administration must work to bring back a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported to prison in El Salvador, rejecting the administration’s emergency appeal.
The court acted in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran citizen who had an immigration court order preventing his deportation to his native country over fears he would face persecution from local gangs.
US District Judge Paula Xinis had ordered Abrego Garcia, now being held in a notorious Salvadoran prison, returned to the United States by midnight Monday.
“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador,” the court said in an unsigned order with no noted dissents.
It comes after a string of rulings on the court’s emergency docket where the conservative majority has at least partially sided with Trump amid a wave of lower court orders slowing the president’s sweeping agenda.
In Thursday’s case, Chief Justice John Roberts had already pushed back Xinis’ deadline. The justices also said that her order must now be clarified to make sure it doesn’t intrude into executive branch power over foreign affairs, since Abrego Garcia is being held abroad. The court said the Trump administration should also be prepared to share what steps it has taken to try to get him back — and what more it could potentially do.
The administration claims Abrego Garcia is a member of the MS-13 gang, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime. His attorneys said there is no evidence he was in MS-13.
The administration has conceded that it made a mistake in sending him to El Salvador, but argued that it no longer could do anything about it.
The court’s liberal justices said the administration should have hastened to correct “its egregious error” and was “plainly wrong” to suggest it could not bring him home.
“The Government’s argument, moreover, implies that it could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene,” Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote, joined by her two colleagues.
Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, said the ordeal has been an “emotional rollercoaster” for their family and the entire community.
“I am anxiously waiting for Kilmar to be here in my arms, and in our home putting our children to bed, knowing this nightmare is almost at its end. I will continue fighting until my husband is home,” she said.
One of his lawyers, Simon Sandoval-Moshenburg, said “tonight, the rule of law prevailed,” and he encouraged the government to “stop wasting time and get moving.”
In the district court, Xinis wrote that the decision to arrest Abrego Garcia and send him to El Salvador appears to be “wholly lawless.” There is little to no evidence to support a “vague, uncorroborated” allegation that Abrego Garcia was once in the MS-13 street gang, Xinis wrote.
The 29-year-old was detained by immigration agents and deported last month.
He had a permit from the Homeland Security Department to legally work in the US and was a sheet metal apprentice pursuing a journeyman license, his attorney said. His wife is a US citizen.
Tricia McLaughlin, assistant DHS secretary for public affairs, said Thursday that the justices’ order for clarification from the lower court was a win for the administration. “We look forward to continuing to advance our position in this case,” she said.
An immigration judge had previously barred the US from deporting Abrego Garcia to El Salvador in 2019, finding that he faced likely persecution by local gangs.
A Justice Department lawyer conceded in a court hearing that Abrego Garcia should not have been deported. Attorney General Pam Bondi later removed the lawyer, Erez Reuveni, from the case and placed him on leave.
 

RIYADH: There is a positive correlation between digitalization and enhanced macroeconomic favorability in Gulf Cooperation Council economies, according to a report by the International Monetary Fund’s Middle East and Central Asia department.

During a roundtable discussion in Riyadh on Thursday, Zeine Zeidan, the department’s deputy director, spoke about the rapid digital development that has taken place within the GCC region in recent years and the significant support this provides for both the public and private sectors.

“The region is going through a very interesting economic transformation,” he said.

The IMF has explored the ways in which digitalization is now a key pillar in the national visions of GCC countries, he continued, and has become a crucial factor in efforts to grow gross domestic product, streamline government operations, improve living standards and accelerate nationwide connectivity.

Zeidan highlighted in particular the accelerated process of digitalization in the region since the COVID-19 pandemic, which he said is reflected by developments in areas such as telehealth, digital banking, e-commerce and virtual courts.

“Between 2020 and now, we see rapid progress in this region in general, which is not the case for other parts of the world,” he said. “And on average, this is a region that is even well ahead of the aggregate by a considerable amount.”

That said, the IMF made recommendations for the further enhancement of digitalization efforts in the region’s public and private sectors. In the former, for instance, there needs to be a greater push for digital engagement with citizens and the digitalization of core government systems. Moreover, data-privacy laws and cybersecurity guidelines must be reviewed and updated to reduce risks and encourage trust. Regulations that can complement an evolving digital industry must also be put in place uniformly across the region.

In the financial sector, the benefits of digital payments and e-commerce should be promoted, in addition to industry-led developments in financial technology that can drive competition. To scale up markets, cross-border cooperation and payments are also recommended.

As for the corporate sector and labor market, the IMF recommended that small and medium-size financial enterprises should learn to adopt new technologies and constantly update their skills. It also advised targeted investments in digital infrastructure, industry and innovation.

In addition, a major emphasis in the corporate and labor market should be placed on education and training to enhance digital skills, especially considering the potential shifts expected in the job market as a result of advances in artificial intelligence.

“The history of technology over the past few decades has shown that there has always been that job creation,” Zeidan said. “So, you lose jobs somewhere, you create a lot of jobs somewhere else.”

Asked by Arab News whether there were concerns about loss of educational and career diversity, or that creativity and critical-thinking skills might be pushed to the back burner by the focus on digital education, he said that AI does not replace human thinking.

The idea, he explained, is to use AI “to foster creativity,” not “replace your thinking.” The biggest challenge, he predicted, will be to build digital skills within the education system while preserving that human creativity and thinking.

Saudi Arabia’s GovTech Maturity Index rating grew from a little over 0.7 to just below 1.0 between 2020 and 2022, ranking it the highest among GCC countries, followed by the UAE and Qatar. The index, which measures the maturity of nations in terms of digital government transformation, has a regional average of 0.85.

Although the GCC region ranks among the best globally in terms of digital connectivity, some individual countries might benefit from improvements to advanced information and communications technology skills, Zeidan said. Many individuals have basic skills but advanced knowledge is still lacking, he added. However the advanced infrastructure in the region gives GCC countries the scope to improve digital skills and industry integration.

Despite the positives, the region does have some catching up to do in certain aspects.

“The contribution of the digital economy to the GDP in general … is still much slower in Saudi Arabia, which is the most advanced in the region, compared to the United States,” Zeidan said.

Digital access efforts, on the other hand, are performing well, with the GCC region closing the gap on advanced economies globally, as evidenced by the IMF’s newly developed Enhanced Digital Access Index, which measures various aspects of a country’s digital infrastructure and inclusivity.

Saudi Arabia jumped 2.9 percent in terms of contributions from the digital economy between 2017 to 2020. During this time, SR73 billion ($19.5 billion) of GDP was provided by the digital economy through leveraging of digital infrastructure, according to the index.

Zeidan also recommended additional efforts in the fields of digital innovation and regulation to further enhance the preparedness of GCC countries for advances in AI.