For Abrego Garcia—an otherwise legal resident of the United States—this has created a twisted legal and diplomatic nightmare. He was wrongfully deported to El Salvador on March 15th. A 2019 federal court order blocks him from being deported. In spite of this, he is now detained in a Salvadoran prison under the country’s domestic sovereignty. The case raises key fault lines in the immigration policy debate. Above all, it highlights the U.S. government’s duty to protect its people.
According to Garcia’s attorneys, he has never been arrested, charged with, or convicted of a crime. They claim that he has no documented ties to the infamous MS-13 gang, at the very least. Now, U.S. officials claim that he is linked to this transnational crime syndicate. Yet immigration officials have previously admitted to making an “administrative error.” They admitted that he had never should have been deported to El Salvador.
“This is a case where basic rights and legal protections seem to have been disregarded,” said one of Garcia’s attorneys. The legal team has been requesting relief as soon as possible from the U.S. District Court. They ask the court to make previous injunctions mandatory so that the government addresses Garcia’s case.
On Saturday, the U.S. government announced its first positive confirmation that Garcia is alive. This public announcement would be the first time since his deportation that officials have leaked details of his status. According to a senior bureau official in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department, Michael G. Kozak, “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.”
The court has ordered that Garcia’s location and the conditions of Garcia be reported on a daily basis. His attorneys have requested expedited discovery regarding the government’s actions that led to his deportation and are seeking a court order to hold the government in contempt for failing to comply with the Supreme Court’s directive to facilitate his return to the United States.
Garcia’s attorneys delivered the unequivocal rebuttal. Instead, they cited a close Supreme Court decision that unambiguously holds that the government has an obligation to “facilitate” his return to freedom in El Salvador. They say that this ruling only increases the need to rectify his wrongful deportation and return him safely.
“Of course,” the man’s lawyers wrote, “that is precisely what the Supreme Court did when it ruled that this Court’s injunction ‘properly requires the Government to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s release from custody in El Salvador and to ensure that his case is handled as it would have been had he not been improperly sent to El Salvador.” – Abrego Garcia’s lawyers
The Trump administration unabashedly doubles-down on its immigration agenda with an iron-clad grip. President Donald Trump has often stressed the danger to public safety that these deported persons represent. Testifying earlier this year, he insisted that Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele’s willingness to accept deportees is “crucial to our national security.” This comment exposes a deeper story, one that seeks to demonize and criminalize immigrant communities.
“President Bukele has graciously accepted into his Nation’s custody some of the most violent alien enemies of the World and, in particular, the United States,” Trump said during a recent address.
In response to these claims, Garcia’s legal team has long maintained that he is innocent and takes issue with the administration’s justification for his deportation. They argue that he is entitled to the full protection of U.S. law and should not be held in indefinite detention without due process.