U.S. Rep. Riley Moore, R-W.Va., posted a photo on social media earlier this week showing himself giving a double thumbs up in front of an El Salvador prison where several allegedly violent gang members who were in the U.S. illegally were deported to. (Photo Provided)

CHARLESTON — A pair of West Virginia federal judges signed an order Thursday that called for the Trump administration to work on returning an immigrant and Maryland resident back to the states from an El Salvador prison, the same prison that one of West Virginia’s two members of Congress took selfies in front of.

The U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals issued an order Thursday denying the government’s request for an emergency stay and a writ of mandamus in the case of Abrego Garcia v. Noem.

The court — in its order written by Judge James Harvie Wilkinson III, an appointee of the late President Ronald Reagan — expressed concern over the government’s assertion of a right to detain individuals in foreign prisons without due process, even after wrongly deporting Kilmar Abrego Garcia.

The order was co-signed by two West Virginia members of the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals: Judge Stephanie Dawn Thacker, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama in 2011; and Judge Robert Bruce King, appointed by former President Bill Clinton in 1998.

“It is difficult in some cases to get to the very heart of the matter. But in this case, it is not hard at all,” Wilkinson wrote. “The government is asserting a right to stash away residents of this country in foreign prisons without the semblance of due process that is the foundation of our constitutional order. Further, it claims in essence that because it has rid itself of custody that there is nothing that can be done.

“This should be shocking not only to judges, but to the intuitive sense of liberty that Americans far removed from courthouses still hold dear,” Wilkinson continued.

Kristi Noem, the cabinet secretary for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, was asking the appeals court to temporarily block an order issued by U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland requiring the return of Garcia to the U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis has threatened to hold federal officials in contempt of court until Garcia is returned.

Garcia fled gang activity in El Salvador for the United States. In 2019, Garcia received a judicial order forbidding his deportation back to El Salvador due to credible threats to his life by gangs back in his home country.

Federal officials have admitted during court proceedings that Garcia was deported to an El Salvador prison during a March raid by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement along with other suspected members of the MS-13, a violent Salvadoran gang, due to an “administrative error.”

Besides a lower court demanding Garcia’s return, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously on April 10 that the U.S. needs to facilitate Garcia’s return to the U.S. In a visit to the White House with President Donald Trump, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele said he is unable to return Garcia. Attorneys for the Department of Homeland Security continue to claim that Garcia has links to MS-13.

“The government asserts that Abrego Garcia is a terrorist and a member of MS-13. Perhaps, but perhaps not,” Wilkinson wrote in his order. “Regardless, he is still entitled to due process. If the government is confident of its position, it should be assured that position will prevail in proceedings to terminate the withholding of removal order.”

Earlier this week, several members of Congress visited the El Salvador prison, called the Centro de Confinamiento del Terrorismo (CECOT), including 1st District Congresswoman Carol Miller, R-W.Va., and 2nd District Congressman Riley Moore, R-W.Va.

“I thought it was important to go down there and see it since it’s been a topic of discussion in our country that we’ve been talking a lot about this prison, but then also a large aspect of this was to do fact-finding and oversight…in terms of our discussions about the security that’s actually been brought to El Salvador,” Moore said Friday morning on WV MetroNews Talkline.

Moore can be seen in photos in front of jail cells at CECOT, including giving two thumbs up. Moore said the thumbs up was him showing his support for the Trump administration deporting violent illegal immigrants and gang members. The photos have sparked both outrage by those concerned with Trump’s crackdown on illegal migration and praise from those who support these efforts.

“My thought on that was I’m giving an affirmative gesture that, yes, I think this is working. I’m supportive of what the president is doing,” Moore said. “But I do want to say this. I know people have found that picture offensive. That was not my intent, to upset people. It was not my intent to offend people with that picture.”