At least one man has been illegally deported from the US to a hellhole prison in El Salvador by mistake, the Trump administration admitted in legal paperwork filed in court Monday.
Maryland resident Kilmer Armado Abrego-Garcia, married to a U.S. citizen who he shares a five-year-old child with, is suing the Trump Administration over his illegal removal from the US.
‘Through administrative error, Abrego-Garcia was removed from the United States to El Salvador,’ the legal paperwork filed by Trump’s team said.
‘This was an oversight, and the removal was carried out in good faith based on the existence of a final order of removal and Abrego-Garcia’s purported membership in MS-13.’
Abrego-Garcia arrived at the notorious supermax prison CECOT in El Salvador March 15 on one of three planes from the US.
His removal also contradicts what the Trump White House originally said about the deportations to El Salvador– when officials claimed some 300 men who were on those planes were all Venezuelans who belong to the global criminal organization Tren de Argua or TdA.
However, Abrego-Garcia is a native of El Salvador, and his attorney has denied he belongs to MS-13, TdA or any other criminal group.
Abrego-Garcia’s lawyers are demanding he be returned to the US, however the Trump administration is outrageously claiming that since he isn’t in US custody, the court cannot order him to be returned to the US nor can the court order El Salvador to return him.
Salvadoran police officers escort alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua recently deported by the U.S. government to be imprisoned in the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison, as part of an agreement with the Salvadoran government, in Tecoluca, El Salvador
Outrage spread over the chaotic deportation of a man from the US to Salvador among current and former elected officials
‘Another “mistake” by the Trump administration—they’re deporting people they know should not be deported under law and then playing dumb about it. Due process would help prevent this,’ tweeted former Obama administration cabinet member Julian Castro Tuesday.
During Trump’s first term in office in 2019, Abrego-Garcia was flagged as a criminal by a confidential informant who “had advised that Abrego Garcia was an active member” of the gang MS-13, his lawyers told ABC News.
No evidence was ever presented proving he was a member of the gang, and he was allowed to file an application for asylum.
A judge went even further and granted Abrego-Garcia, whose photo has not been made public, withholding of removal to his home country.
According to his lawyers, ICE officials detained Abrego-Garcia in March, informing him that ‘immigration status had changed.’
He was taken to a detention center in Texas before being flown to El Salvador.
The legality on the Trump fights to El Salvador has been challenged in court, as Pres. Donald Trump invoked a law meant to be used during only times of war to suspend the legal process for Venezuelans accused of being TdA members.
That’s how the government was able to remove the men as quickly as they did, since they never had a day in court, and many of the Venezuelans removed now claim they are not TdA members.
Bukele, in a meeting last month with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio , offered to house prisoners from the United States in his country
The arrival of alleged members of the Venezuelan criminal organisation Tren de Aragua at the Terrorism Confinement Centre
The gang has been linked to kidnapping, extortion, organised crime and contract killings
Despite admitting wrong-doing, Vice President JD Vance doubled down, taking to X (formerly Twitter) to defend the action, and later editing posts.
‘In 2019, an Immigration Judge (under the first Trump administration) determined that the deported man was, in fact, a member of the MS-13 gang,’ Vance tweeted, although Abrego-Garcia’s lawyer maintain that he was never ruled a gangster.
‘He also apparently had multiple traffic violations for which he failed to appear in court,’ Vance continued.
‘A real winner. It is telling that the entire American media is going to run a propaganda operation today making you think an innocent “father of 3” was apprehended by a gulag.’
However, several judges have ruled that the flights to Venezuela violated the deportees rights, even if they are Venezuelan TdA members– neither of which Abrego-Garcia is.