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(WASHINGTON) — A federal judge has scheduled a hearing for Friday, following the Supreme Court’s order requiring the Trump administration to “facilitate” the release of a Maryland man who was deported to El Salvador in error last month.

In an order filed late Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis directed the Trump administration to take all available steps to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia to the U.S. “as soon as possible.”

The judge also ordered the Trump administration to file a supplemental declaration from an individual with personal knowledge acknowledging the current physical location of Abrego Garcia and what steps the administration will take to facilitate his immediate return

The hearing is set for 1 p.m. ET Friday.

Earlier Thursday, the Supreme Court largely upheld an earlier order issued by the lower-court judge ordering the Trump administration to take steps to return the man.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ 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 Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.

Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”

The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.

“The order properly requires the Government to ‘facilitate’ 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 Supreme Court’s unsigned order stated.

Abrego Garcia — despite having protected legal status preventing his deportation to El Salvador, where his attorneys say he escaped political violence in 2011 — was sent to that country’s notorious CECOT mega-prison following what the government said was an “administrative error.”

The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, which his lawyers and his wife deny, and argued in legal filings that because Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody, the courts cannot order him to be returned to the U.S. nor order El Salvador to return him.

In a statement, a Justice Department spokesman said: “As the Supreme Court correctly recognized, it is the exclusive prerogative of the President to conduct foreign affairs. By directly noting the deference owed to the Executive Branch, this ruling once again illustrates that activist judges do not have the jurisdiction to seize control of the President’s authority to conduct foreign policy.”

Reacting to the Supreme Court ruling, the attorney for Abrego Garcia told ABC News that “the rule of law prevailed.”

“The Supreme Court upheld the District Judge’s order that the government has to bring Kilmar home,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg. “Now they need to stop wasting time and get moving.”

ABC News’ Alexander Mallin and Devin Dwyer contributed to this report.

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(LOS ANGELES) — Eight relatives of the Menendez brothers sat down with ABC News in an exclusive interview the night before the case returns to court to show they are unanimous in supporting Erik and Lyle Menendez’s release from prison.

This marks the first time the brothers’ aunt, Jose Menendez’s sister, Terry Baralt, has spoken out in decades.

“They are like the boys that I didn’t have,” she told ABC News.

“It’s time — 35 years is a long time,” she said. “It’s a whole branch of my family erased. The ones that are gone and the ones that are still paying for it, which were kids.”

Baralt, who is battling colon cancer, said she’s concerned she might not live to see her nephews be released from prison.

“I have tried to go see them as much as I can, but it’s hard because I live in New Jersey and I’m 85. I don’t have that much time,” she said.

“When kids are little and they come to you, you fix the problem. I can’t help them. … There is nothing I can do — just go visit them and cry when I leave,” she said, overcome with emotion. “This is why I don’t give interviews. It’s hard.”

Lyle and Erik Menendez — who are serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the 1989 murders of their parents Jose and Kitty Menendez — are fighting to be released after 35 years behind bars.

A hearing will be held on Friday’s on Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman’s motion to withdraw the brothers’ resentencing petition. Depending on what the judge decides, another resentencing hearing may be set for April 17 and 18.

Last month, Hochman asked the court to withdraw the motion from the previous district attorney, which was in support of resentencing. Hochman argued the brothers hadn’t taken responsibility for their actions and called their claims of self-defense part of a litany of “lies.”

Because the “brothers persist in telling these lies for the last over 30 years about their self-defense defense and persist in insisting that they did not suborn any perjury or attempt to suborn perjury, then they do not meet the standards for resentencing,” Hochman said.

Hochman told ABC News last month that he would reconsider resentencing only if the brothers admitted to “the full range of their criminal activity and all the lies that they have told about it.”

In October, Hochman’s predecessor, George Gascón, announced he supported resentencing the brothers.

Gascón recommended their sentences of life without the possibility of parole be removed, and said they should instead be sentenced for murder, which would be a sentence of 50 years to life. Because both brothers were under 26 at the time of the crimes, they would be eligible for parole immediately with the new sentence.

Gascón’s office said its resentencing recommendations take into account many factors, including rehabilitation in prison and abuse or trauma that contributed to the crime. Gascón praised the work Lyle and Erik Menendez did behind bars to rehabilitate themselves and help other inmates.

Over 20 Menendez relatives are pushing for the brothers’ release, arguing they endured horrific abuse, have admitted guilt and apologized, and have used their decades behind bars to help others.

Ahead of Thursday night’s interview, Erik Menendez asked his cousin, Diane VanderMolen, to pass along a message to ABC News.

“They are truly, deeply sorry for what they did. And they are profoundly remorseful,” she said. “They are filled with remorse over what they did. And through that, they have become pretty remarkable people.”

Resentencing is one of three possible paths to freedom for the brothers.

Another path is the brothers’ request for clemency, which has been submitted to California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

Newsom announced in February that he was ordering the parole board to conduct a 90-day “comprehensive risk assessment” investigation into whether Lyle and Erik Menendez pose “an unreasonable risk to the public” if they’re granted clemency and released.

After the risk assessment, the brothers will appear at independent parole board hearings on June 13, Newsom said.

The third path is the brothers’ habeas corpus petition, which they filed in 2023 for a review of two new pieces of evidence not presented at trial: a letter Erik Menendez wrote to his cousin eight months before the murders detailing his alleged abuse from his father, and allegations from a former boy band member who revealed in 2023 that he was raped by Jose Menendez.

In February, Hochman announced that he was asking the court to deny the habeas corpus petition, arguing the brothers’ new evidence wasn’t credible or admissible.

ABC News’ Matt Gutman and Ashley Riegle contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK CITY) — A tourist helicopter carrying family members from Spain plunged into the Hudson River in New York City, killing six, including three children.

The New York Helicopters chartered chopper, which was carrying a pilot, two adults and three children, fell into the Hudson River by Lower Manhattan in New York City on Thursday afternoon, officials said during a press briefing.

Agustin Escobar, an executive from European automation company Siemens, his wife, Merce Camprubi Montal, and their children — aged 4, 5 and 11 years old — were killed in the crash along with the pilot, aged 36, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The crash occurred at 3:17 p.m. off the coast of River Drive in Hoboken, New Jersey, just over 15 minutes after it departed from the Wall St. Heliport. The helicopter reached the George Washington Bridge before turning south and crashing, officials said during the briefing.

The five-person family was from Barcelona, Spain, two Spanish officials told ABC News on Thursday.

“Our hearts go out to the family and those on board,” New York City Mayor Eric Adams said during the briefing.

Video from the crash showed the chopper plunging into the water without a tail rotor or a main rotor blade. Officials said it hit the water inverted.

The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the incident.

Jersey City Medical Center, where the passengers were transported after the crash, tried as hard as they could, Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop told ABC News.

President Donald Trump took to his social media platform on Thursday evening, calling the crash “terrible” and saying that the footage of the accident is “horrendous.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said in a post to X that the news was “devastating.” He added, “Five Spaniards from the same family, three of them children, and the pilot have lost their lives. An unimaginable tragedy.”

Dani Horbiak told ABC News she watched the helicopter “fall out of the sky” from her apartment window.

“I heard five or six loud noises that sounded almost like gunshots in the sky and saw pieces fall off, then watched it fall into the river,” she said.

“I was walking by and the helicopter went down at a 45-degree angle,” Eric Campoverde told ABC News. “Big splash — it was very scary.”

“It sounded like a sonic boom,” a witness told New York ABC station WABC. He said he saw the “helicopter splitting in two with the rotor flying off.”

Another witness told WABC, “One propeller broke into pieces.”

The chopper — identified by the Federal Aviation Administration as a Bell 206 helicopter — was on its sixth flight of the day. It was found upside-down in the 50-degree water when rescuers arrived at the scene, which was closer to the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, according to sources.

The Jersey City Police Department is taking the lead on the investigation since the helicopter crashed on the Jersey City side of the river, Fulop told WABC on Thursday.

Fulop said the city has had concerns about the air traffic over the Hudson before and is hoping this brings more attention to their safety concerns.

ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff and Erin Murtha contributed to this report.

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(CAMDEN, N.J. ) — A New Jersey woman has been charged with attempted murder after she allegedly tried to hire someone on Tinder to kill her ex-boyfriend — a police officer — and his teenage daughter, according to prosecutors and a probable cause statement.

Jaclyn Diiorio, 26, was charged with two counts of first-degree attempted murder, one count of conspiracy to commit murder and one count of third-degree possession of a controlled dangerous substance, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

A confidential informant allegedly met Diiorio on the dating app, where they exchanged messages and later met at a Wawa in Runnemede in March, according to the probable cause statement.

The two allegedly exchanged “numerous text messages and phone calls” and Diiorio allegedly said she “wants her ex boyfriend killed,” according to the document.

The couple, whio had met when she was his barber, had split on March 6, the document said.

Diiorio is set to appear in court on Friday for a pretrial detention hearing, according to court records.

The prosecutor’s office was informed of the murder-for-hire plot on April 3.

Diiorio allegedly told the confidential informant that she wanted to have her 53-year-old ex-boyfriend — a Philadelphia Police Department officer — and his 19-year-old daughter killed, according to the prosecutor’s office. She allegedly offered to pay the informant $12,000 to kill both victims, the prosecutor’s office said.

Diiorio met with the informant and gave him $500 in cash on April 4. After the money was exchanged, she was taken into custody, prosecutors said.

She was also found to be in possession of a bottle of suspected alprazolam pills, the generic version of Xanax, according to officials.

An attorney for Diiorio did not immediately respond to ABC News’ request for comment.

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(NEW YORK CITY) — All six people on board were killed when a helicopter plunged into the Hudson River by Lower Manhattan in New York City on Thursday afternoon, law enforcement sources told ABC News.

The helicopter was carrying a pilot, two adults and three children, according to law enforcement sources. The family members were tourists from Spain, sources said.

The helicopter was in the air around Manhattan for about 15 minutes before the crash. Video showed the chopper plunging into the water without a tail rotor or a main rotor blade.

Dani Horbiak told ABC News she watched the helicopter “fall out of the sky” from her apartment window.

“I heard five or six loud noises that sounded almost like gunshots in the sky and saw pieces fall off, then watched it fall into the river,” she said.

“I was walking by and the helicopter went down at 45-degree angle,” Eric Campoverde told ABC News. “Big splash — it was very scary.”

“It sounded like a sonic boom,” a witness told New York ABC station WABC. He said he saw the “helicopter splitting in two with the rotor flying off.”

Another witness told WABC “one propeller broke into pieces.”

The chopper — identified by Federal Aviation Administration as a Bell 206 helicopter — was on its sixth flight of the day. It was found upside-down in the 50-degree water when rescuers arrived to the scene, which was closer to the New Jersey side of the Hudson River, according to sources.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

ABC News’ Leah Sarnoff and Erin Murtha contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — The wingtip of an American Airlines plane hit another American Airlines plane on a taxiway at Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in Washington, D.C., on Thursday, according to the Federal Aviation Administration.

No one was hurt, the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority said. Both planes returned to gates and airport operations weren’t impacted, the agency said.

Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y., tweeted that his plane was “stationary on the runway” when another plane “bumped into our wing.”

“Thankfully everyone is ok!” he added.

“The plane shook violently,” Josh Gottheimer, D-N.J., another member of Congress on the flight, told ABC News Live. “It was pretty clear that we got hit.”

“The pilot came on and told us we weren’t going anywhere except back to the gate,” he said.

“This is not a time to be cutting the FAA[‘s jobs] when they’re understaffed already,” he said, calling it “deeply concerning.”

Rep. Grace Meng, D-N.Y., who was also on the flight, agreed with Gottheimer, writing on social media, “I’m grateful no one was hurt today, but this incident underscores this urgent need restore all FAA jobs that keep our runways safe.”

The representatives’ flight was headed to JFK International Airport in New York. The other plane was headed to Charleston, South Carolina.

The FAA said it’s investigating.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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