President Trump’s administration must return a Maryland man mistakenly deported to El Salvador in massive immigration sweeps, a federal judge said Sunday.
A lawyer for the Justice Department admitted days earlier there was no clear reason why Kilmar Abrego Garcia was shipped to a notorious prison in Central America on March 15.
“As defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador,” U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis wrote. “Having confessed grievous error, the defendants now argue that this Court lacks the power to hear this case.”
Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national, had been living legally in the U.S. since 2019. He is married to an American citizen and has a 5-year-old son.
AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana
Jennifer Vasquez Sura, the wife of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, who was mistakenly deported to El Salvador, speaks during a news conference in Maryland on Saturday. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Trump administration has claimed Abrego Garcia is a member of the street gang MS-13, citing a confidential informant’s statements in 2019. Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have said he has no connection to the gang.
Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni admitted in court Abrego Garcia “should not have been removed to El Salvador” and responded, “I don’t know,” when asked why Abrego Garcia was detained. Reuveni was almost immediately placed on leave by Attorney General Pam Bondi.
The feds have since argued that because Abrego Garcia is already in El Salvador, U.S. courts no longer have jurisdiction in the case. Despite the repeated orders, Abrego Garcia remains detained in CECOT, a massive prison for accused gang members built three years ago in El Salvador.
With News Wire Services
