A Maryland man who was in the United States legally was deported to El Salvador and imprisoned there because of an “administrative error,” Trump administration officials said in a court filing on Monday, adding that American courts lacked the jurisdiction to have him released.
The man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, had lived in the United States under protected legal status since October 2019. His wife and 5-year-old child are both U.S. citizens.
On March 12, Mr. Abrego Garcia was stopped by immigration agents who told him inaccurately that his status had changed, according to court documents. Mr. Abrego Garcia had “withholding from removal” status, which means he was the subject of a deportation order but was allowed to stay in the United States because of the likelihood that he could be harmed if he returned to El Salvador.
Three days later, Mr. Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador, and he is now being held in its sprawling Terrorism Confinement Center, a so-called mega prison known as CECOT. In the court filing, Trump administration officials said there was nothing they could do to correct the error, given that Mr. Abrego Garcia is no longer in U.S. custody. His deportation was first reported by The Atlantic.
Mr. Abrego Garcia’s inadvertent deportation is the latest twist in a pitched battle between immigration lawyers and the White House over the administration’s efforts to deport migrants to El Salvador under both traditional and highly unorthodox procedures.
Mr. Abrego Garcia was placed on one of three flights to El Salvador on March 15 as the Trump administration was hastily ramping up its efforts to use a rarely invoked wartime statute, known as the Alien Enemies Act, to deport scores of Venezuelan immigrants accused of being members of the street gang Tren de Aragua.