A federal judge ordered President Donald Trump’s administration to return the man to the United States after being accidentally deported to El Salvador.
Before issuing the ruling Friday, Judge Paula Sinis called Kilmer Abrego Garcia’s deportation “an illegal act” and accused Trump administration lawyers of lacking answers to basic questions surrounding the case.
Abrego Garcia, 29, was placed on a deportation flight to El Salvador in March despite a 2019 ruling that protected him from banishment from possible persecution by local gangs in his home country.
“For obvious reasons, his continued presence in El Salvador constitutes irreparable harm,” the judge said in her order to the Department of Homeland Security and other agencies.
Even immigration officers and even the White House admitted that Abrego Garcia was deported for “erroneous” but Trump officials were rebelling against their response.
White House spokesman Karline Leavitt claimed earlier this week that Maryland residents are members of the MS-13 gang, citing unpublished evidence.
“The administration remains in the position that this individual, deported to El Salvador and not returning to our country, was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” Leavitt said.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys say the allegations are based on the 2019 claims of a confidential informant.
During Friday’s hearing, Justice Department lawyer Elrez Luvveni could not communicate the judge under what authority Abrego Garcia’s authorities, who were legally permitted to work in the United States, were detained prior to his expulsion.
“I’m also unhappy with the lack of answers to you on many of these questions,” he said.
Meanwhile, Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Simon Sandoval Moshenberg, has targeted the Trump administration’s inaction.
“A lot of tweets. There’s a lot of White House press conferences. But there was no real action with the Salvadoran government to make it right,” he said.
“An apologies would be fine, but I’m not expecting that,” he added.
“I’m waiting to be asked.”
At a rally at a community center in Hyattville, near Maryland, Abrego Garcia’s wife said she hadn’t spoken to her husband since being taken to El Salvador.
Jennifer Vazquez Sula, a US citizen, urged her supporters to continue fighting for her husband.
“To all my wives, mothers, children who are also facing this cruel separation, I am standing with you in this bond of pain,” she said.
A fiasco is happening as Trump’s administration attempts to take away his campaign pledge to exile, and Trump frames the US undocumented migration as “invasion.”
Authorities have increased arrests, but expelling is more difficult, and in most cases they slowly pass through mobile immigration courts.
In March, the administration sought to quickly track the process by invoking the Alien Enemy Act of 1789, which allowed the expulsion of foreigners during the war.
Rights groups say the law denied the legitimate process for individuals. The court filing says, along with Abrego Garcia, some of the 237 men deported under the law, are targeting only those who have tattoos or clothing that are believed to be linked to Latin American gangs.
The judge temporarily banned Trump from using the law to deport him.
He has determined whether the administration violated his March 15th order by refusing to turn around two deportations.
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