How did a Maryland resident end up in a El Salvador prison?
U.S. immigration officials admit mistakenly deporting a Maryland man to El Salvador, sparking controversy and criticism from advocates.
Straight Arrow News
GREENBELT, Md. ― A federal judge said Friday the Trump administration acted illegally when it deported a Maryland father to El Salvador, and she ordered that he be returned to the United States.
“This was an illegal act,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland said of the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Xinis gave the administration until 11:59 p.m. Monday to bring him back to the U.S.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was among the hundreds of alleged members of crime gangs MS-13 and Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua the government expelled from the U.S. to El Salvador last month.
Abrego Garcia, who had fled El Salvador as a teenager to escape gang violence, was pulled over by federal immigration agents near his home in Beltsville, Maryland, on March 12 and arrested. Three days later, he was expelled and sent back to El Salvador even though he had won a court order six years earlier barring his removal.
The Trump administration acknowledged in court records earlier this week that his deportation was a mistake, which it attributed to an “administrative error.” But the U.S. government says it has no jurisdiction to order his return because he is in a foreign country.
Abrego Garica’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and their 5-year-old son, who are both U.S. citizens, have sued the government demanding his return.
The hearing Friday was in response to that lawsuit.
The court order protecting Abrego Garcia from removal from the United States grew out of an earlier case.
In March 2019, he was arrested outside a Home Depot in Hyattsville, Maryland, where he was looking for work, after a confidential informant testified that he was an active member of the MS-13 gang, according to government lawyers. His attorneys say he was not a member of MS-13, and the government offered scant evidence to back up its claim.
A court ordered him deported to El Salvador, but Abrego Garcia applied for asylum, asking for protection under the United Nations Convention Against Torture. In court filings, he said he had come to the United States because the Barrio 18 gang, which is rivals with MS-13, was extorting and threatening him and his family for their pupusa business in their San Salvador neighborhood and pressuring him to join the gang.
A U.S. immigration judge found he was deportable but issued an order in October 2019 that protected him from removal.
Abrego Garcia’s arrest and deportation to El Salvador has been condemned by immigrant rights advocates and others.
Minutes before Friday’s hearing, chants led by people in pink vests – reading “Rapid Response Choir” –could be heard from the rally gathered outside the federal courthouse in suburban Maryland. A few police officers stood to the side. The chants, calling for Abrego Garcia’s release, continued after the hearing began.
Follow Eduardo Cuevas on X @eduardomcuevas and Michael Collins @mcollinsNEWS.