The Trump administration confirmed to a federal judge on Saturday that a Maryland man who was mistakenly deported from the US last month is alive and remains confined in a notorious prison in El Salvador.
The government’s filing, however, did not address the judge’s demands that the administration detail what steps it was taking to return Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the United States.
The government said only that Abrego Garcia, 29, is under the authority of the El Salvador government.
What we know so far
1. Abrego Garcia, a legal resident protected from deportation by a 2019 court order, was mistakenly sent to the Salvadoran prison along with other men who were alleged to be gang members.
2. The Trump administration claimed that Abrego Garcia is a member of MS-13, though he has never been charged with or convicted of a crime.
3. Abrego Garcia denied the allegation and was never charged with a crime, his attorneys said.’
4. A US immigration judge subsequently shielded him from deportation to El Salvador because he likely faced persecution there by local gangs that terrorised his family.
5. The Trump administration deported him there last month anyway, later describing the mistake as “an administrative error” but insisting he was in MS-13.
What’s happened in court now?
Abrego Garcia’s location was confirmed to the court by Michael G Kozak, who identified himself in the filing as a “Senior Bureau Official” in the State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, the Associated Press reported.
The filing came a day after a US government attorney struggled in a hearing to provide US district judge Paula Xinis with any information about Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts.
The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the Trump administration must bring him back.
Xinis issued an order Friday requiring the administration to disclose Abrego Garcia’s “current physical location and custodial status” and “what steps, if any, Defendants have taken (and) will take, and when, to facilitate” his return.
Kozak’s statement said, “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 Centre in El Salvador.
“He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador,” the statement added.
Kozak’s statement did not address the judge’s latter requirements.
Xinis was exasperated Friday with the government’s lack of information.
“Where is he and under whose authority?” the judge asked during the hearing.
“I’m not asking for state secrets. All I know is that he’s not here. The government was prohibited from sending him to El Salvador, and now I’m asking a very simple question: Where is he?,” the judge asked.
The judge repeatedly asked a government attorney about what has been done to return Abrego Garcia, asking pointedly: “Have they done anything?”
Drew Ensign, a deputy assistant attorney general, told Xinis that he had no personal knowledge about any actions or plans to return Abrego Garcia.
But he told the judge the government was “actively considering what could be done” and said that Abrego Garcia’s case involved three Cabinet agencies and significant coordination.
Before the hearing ended, Xinis ordered the US to provide daily status updates on plans to return Abrego Garcia.
The Justice Department did not immediately respond Saturday evening to an Associated Press request for comment.
Who is Abrego Garcia?
Abrego Garcia lived in the US for roughly 14 years, during which he worked construction, got married and was raising three children with disabilities, according to court records.
If he is returned, he will get to face the allegations that prompted his expulsion: a 2019 accusation from local police in Maryland that he was an MS-13 gang member.
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