Despite court order, US won't detail plans to bring deported man back

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal US resident protected by a 2019 court ruling, was mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran prison, alongside others accused of gang ties

The Trump administration informed a federal judge on Saturday that Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported last month, is currently being held in a well-known prison in El Salvador. 

However, the court filing did not respond to the judge’s directive to outline what actions were being taken to bring Garcia back to the US. Instead, it simply stated that he is under the custody of El Salvadoran authorities, Associated Press reported. 

The information about Garcia’s location was provided to the court by Michael G Kozak, who described himself as a ‘Senior Bureau Official’ in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. 

 

The Trump administration’s move followed a court hearing a day earlier in which a government attorney was unable to answer questions from US District Judge Paula Xinis regarding Garcia’s status. Following the hearing, Xinis ordered the administration to clarify Garcia’s “current physical location and custodial status” and to specify “what steps, if any, Defendants have taken (and) will take, and when, to facilitate” his return. 

“It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador,” Kozak said. “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.” 

During Friday’s hearing, Judge Xinis expressed frustration over the government’s inability to provide clarity. “Where is he and under whose authority?” she asked. “I’m not asking for state secrets. All I know is that he’s not here. The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador, and now I’m asking a very simple question: Where is he?”

 

Court-protected resident deported in error

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a legal US resident who had been protected from deportation by a 2019 court ruling, was mistakenly deported to a Salvadoran prison along with several individuals accused of gang affiliation. 

The Trump administration said that Garcia was a member of the MS-13 gang, despite the fact that he has never been formally charged with or convicted of any crime. 

A US immigration judge had previously ruled against his removal to El Salvador, citing concerns that he was at risk of persecution by local gangs known to have threatened his family. However, Garcia was deported last month. The Trump administration later acknowledged the action as ‘an administrative error’ but continued to maintain he was affiliated with MS-13. 

Responding to a question on Friday about the mistaken deportation of a Salvadoran man, President Donald Trump said, “If the Supreme Court said bring somebody back I would do that. I respect the Supreme Court.” 

Just a day earlier, the US Supreme Court had ordered the Trump administration to take steps to bring Kilmar Abrego Garcia back to the United States.

 

[With agency inputs]