Chief Justice John Roberts Monday temporarily halted a judge’s midnight deadline for the Trump administration to return to the country a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador. 

Roberts agreed to hold the deadline until the high court can resolve the Trump administration’s emergency request to wipe it completely.  The chief justice set a fast briefing schedule for the request, ordering the plaintiffs to respond by Tuesday afternoon.

Monday’s “administrative stay” does not address the underlying merits of the dispute and is not necessarily an indication of how the court will rule. 

The Trump administration has acknowledged an “administrative error” that mistakenly removed Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who resides in Maryland, despite an immigration judge’s 2019 ruling protecting him from being deported to El Salvador over fears of violence. 

Abrego Garcia was one of hundreds of migrants deported to a notorious Salvadoran prison last month. The administration has accused him of being connected to MS-13 based on a report from a confidential informant, but Abrego Garcia’s family rejects that he has any gang ties.

The Justice Department insists it cannot bring Abrego Garcia back to the United States now that he is in the hands of Salvadoran authorities. 

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