The Trump administration acknowledged in a court filing on Monday that a “administrative error” and an “oversight” led to the deportation and imprisonment of a Salvadoran man in a supermax facility in El Salvador, despite a legal order that prohibited his removal there.
Acting Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office director Robert Cerna stated that Kilmar Abrego Garcia was deported from the U.S. on March 15 as part of a series of deportation flights transporting hundreds of purported gang members to a notorious prison in El Salvador, even though an immigration judge had granted him legal protection against deportation.
These flights are central to a court battle involving the Justice Department and U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, who halted further deportations of alleged Tren de Aragua gang members in response to the Trump administration’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798.
The March 15 deportation flights transported 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans, all identified by Trump administration officials as members of the Tren de Aragua and MS-13 gangs. Many Venezuelan lawyers and relatives have firmly denied claims about their clients and loved ones being gang members.
The filings were submitted in a lawsuit by lawyers representing Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran native and Maryland resident who was granted a legal status known as “withholding of removal” in 2019. An immigration judge had determined that Abrego Garcia, who left his home country in 2011 at the age of 16, could face gang-related persecution if deported to El Salvador. This case was first reported by The Atlantic late Monday.
While the Trump administration admits it erred in deporting Abrego Garcia, it is resisting a request for his return to the U.S. The government asserts that Abrego Garcia poses a danger to society, claiming he is a member of the MS-13 gang.
The Justice Department has also contended that federal courts lack the authority to assist Abrego Garcia’s return since he is currently held by the Salvadoran government and is no longer in U.S. custody. Even if they had the power to secure his return, the Justice Department stated in a filing that there is “no indication that El Salvador is even willing to consider a request to release a detainee at the United States’ request.”
Attorney Simon Sandoval-Mosheberg termed the Trump administration’s refusal to facilitate his client’s return “appalling.”
“I’ve dealt with wrongful deportation cases before, including during the last Trump administration, and in every one of those instances, once they recognized their error, they made considerable efforts to rectify it,” he told CBS News.
Abrego Garcia lived in Maryland with his wife and their disabled 5-year-old son, both of whom are U.S. citizens, as per the court filings submitted by his attorneys. Before ICE detained him last month, Abrego Garcia regularly attended check-ins with the agency, according to the filings. His attorneys argue that he has no criminal record in the U.S., a claim the government has not contested.
In 2019, Abrego Garcia was arrested while seeking work outside a Home Depot in Hyattsville, Maryland, alongside three other men. His attorney indicated that he was questioned about gang affiliation, and when he denied being a gang member, police expressed disbelief and said they would contact ICE.
During immigration proceedings, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys claimed the only evidence the government cited to support the allegation of his gang affiliation was based on his clothing—a Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie—and a confidential informant’s assertion that he was a member of MS-13 linked to a Long Island branch, where his attorneys argue he has never lived.
“He is not a gang member. The accusations against him are based on unsubstantiated claims,” Sandoval-Mosheberg stated.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys noted in their initial complaint that his name was absent from a Hyattsville City Police Department report concerning the Home Depot arrest and mentioned that the detective responsible for the gang affiliation section of the report had been suspended.
An immigration judge assessed that the informant’s testimony was “proven and reliable,” yet concluded that he should not be deported to El Salvador.
In a statement Tuesday, a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson alleged that Abrego Garcia is “a member of the brutal MS-13 gang and was reportedly involved in human trafficking. Whether in El Salvador or a detention facility in the U.S., he should be incarcerated.”
Vice President JD Vance reacted to media reports regarding the deportation on Tuesday, posting on X that “It is revealing that the entire American media will launch a propaganda campaign today to suggest an innocent ‘father of 3’ was detained by a gulag,” asserting that Abrego Garcia “is an illegal immigrant with no right to be in our country.”
