Haberman on Trump deportation drama: The administration ‘wants this fight’

New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman suggested Wednesday that the Trump administration welcomes the fight over the fate of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a man who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador.

In an interview on CNN’s “The Source,” Haberman said the administration views this case as a winning issue politically and would rather focus on immigration than the uncertain economic environment sparked by President Trump's recent tariffs.

“This administration wants this fight. You saw that today. You have seen that every day that they talk about immigration,” Haberman told host Kaitlan Collins.

“They think that the court of public opinion is generally on their side," she continued. "And they would certainly rather be talking about this than talking about tariffs or talking about economic confidence decreasing."

The White House has dug in this week on its refusal to comply with a Supreme Court order to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from El Salvador’s custody. Officials have increasingly attacked the 29-year-old Salvadoran national's character, portraying him as a violent gang member, despite denials from his family that he was part of MS-13 and a conflicting court record.

The Trump administration has stated Abrego Garcia will not return to the U.S., arguing Abrego Garcia entered the country illegally from El Salvador and, therefore, would be sent back to his home country one way or another.

Abrego Garcia fled the Central American nation as a teenager to escape gang violence and had been living in Maryland. A U.S. immigration judge protected him from being deported in 2019, a fact courts this year have underscored in calling on the administration to bring him back to the U.S.

Haberman, who has covered Trump for decades, said she expects the case to come before the Supreme Court again, and she suspects the administration is confident in its chances.

“We'll see how this plays out, Kaitlan, but the general feeling in the administration is they have better odds than not with the Supreme Court because ... the conservative justices are not going to want to try to look like they are dictating how the U.S. handles some aspect of immigration enforcement or foreign policy,” she said.