A member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus holds an image of Kilmar Abrego Garcia throughout a information convention to debate his arrest and deportation on Apr. 9, 2025 in Washington, DC.
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A Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador is alive and nonetheless detained within the nation, the Trump administration stated in a submitting to a federal decide on Saturday.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is being held at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Heart, based on Michael G. Kozak, a senior official in State Division’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, citing the USA’ embassy in San Salvador within the submitting.
“He’s alive and safe in that facility. He’s detained pursuant to the sovereign, home authority of El Salvador,” Kolzak additionally wrote.
The submitting follows federal decide Paula Xinis’ order on Friday that the Trump administration present each day updates on their efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.
In her new order, which was issued after the Supreme Courtroom upheld her authentic order to deliver Abrego Garcia again, Xinis directed the federal authorities to “take all obtainable steps to facilitate the return” of Abrego Garcia to the U.S. as quickly as potential. She additionally ordered the Justice Division to supply an instantaneous replace on his location and standing, the steps the federal government has taken thus far to deliver Abrego Garcia again and what extra actions it’s contemplating.
The Trump administration on Friday requested for extra time to reply Xinis’ questions, arguing that the federal government wants “a significant alternative to evaluation the Supreme Courtroom’s choice earlier than it’s ordered to report what steps it would soak up response to that call.”
Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen who has lived in Maryland for nearly 15 years. Whereas he initially entered the U.S. with out being granted authorized standing, a federal decide in 2019 granted him safety from being deported, resulting from considerations for his security if he had been to return to El Salvador. He additionally has had no felony document.
Abrego Garcia was arrested in March and, a couple of days later, positioned on a flight with different males the Trump administration alleged had been members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A Justice Division lawyer conceded in courtroom that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was a mistake, or as he put it, an “administrative error.”
Abrego Garcia’s legal professional, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, stated in a press release to NPR, “We’re incredulous. Twenty-four extra hours and nonetheless no solutions as to what they’ve executed thus far, and what they’re planning on doing going ahead, to hold out the Supreme Courtroom’s ruling.”
Murray Osorio PLLC, an immigration legislation agency Sandoval-Moshenberg is with that can also be representing Abrego Garcia, stated in an extra assertion that whereas the acknowledgment of his location is an “overdue first step, it does nothing to handle the federal government’s obligation to return him safely and instantly to the USA.”
“The continued delay in executing a Supreme Courtroom mandate isn’t solely unacceptable—it’s a direct affront to the rule of legislation,” the agency stated. “The Division of Homeland Safety and the Division of State should act with out additional delay and supply full transparency in regards to the steps being taken to make sure Mr. Abrego Garcia’s protected return.”
NPR’s Joel Rose, Nina Totenberg and Christina Gatti sontributed to this report.
