Trump administration admits ‘error’ in deporting Maryland resident to El Salvador

Kyle Cheney

The Trump administration acknowledged late Monday that it had inadvertently deported a man to El Salvador last month despite a court’s determination that he had a legitimate fear of persecution in his home country.

“This removal was an error,” a top Immigration and Customs Enforcement official wrote in a statement to a federal judge.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran, was on one of three deportation flights to his home country on March 15 amid a frantic legal fight over President Donald Trump’s decision to invoke war powers to hasten the deportation of more than 100 Venezuela nationals to El Salvador. In addition to the Venezuelans subject to Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act were other deportees with purported gang ties.

Trump’s use of centuries-old war powers to speed deportations — invoked just three times in American history — has provoked a fierce legal and political battle over the president’s authority.

A federal judge has barred further removals under the Alien Enemies Act while proceedings play out in court. That decision triggered Trump to call for the impeachment of judges who have ruled against his administration. The judge, James Boasberg, is also weighing whether the Trump administration defied his order by deporting some Venezuelans to El Salvador after he demanded the March 15 flights be halted or turned around.

Abrego Garcia was deemed by an immigration judge in 2019 to be a likely member of the MS-13 gang — a decision Abrego Garcia sharply contested and that the government credited to information gleaned from a confidential informant. But the court also agreed at the time that he should not be deported to El Salvador, finding that his fear of being persecuted or tortured was credible.

As a result of that determination, Abrego Garcia was released from custody and has been living in Maryland with his wife, a U.S. citizen, and child.

He was arrested by ICE on March 12 and sent to El Salvador on March 15, where his wife recognized him in a video showing the shackled and shaven prisoners being arrayed by Salvadoran authorities.

The Trump administration now says there’s nothing it can do to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return to U.S. custody. The Justice Department is urging a federal judge to reject a petition by Abrego Garcia’s attorneys to seek his return to United States custody, saying the Trump administration has no power to force El Salvador to facilitate that demand — and that the courts have no authority to issue such an order.

The case is before U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, an Obama appointee based in Maryland.

The administration contends that despite the “good faith” error, Abrego Garcia is unlikely to face torture in El Salvador in part because the U.S. government made a broader assessment of El Salvador’s intentions when it deported the larger groups of migrants.

“This court should defer to the government’s determination that Abrego Garcia will not likely be tortured or killed in El Salvador,” Justice Department attorneys wrote. “Although the government erred in removing Abrego Garcia specifically to El Salvador, the government would not have removed any alien to El Salvador … if it believed that doing so would violate the United States’ obligations” under an international anti-torture treaty.

After the error began generating news coverage, Vice President JD Vance responded to a demand for explanation from Pod Save America’s Jon Favreau, a former Obama administration official, who described Abrego Garcia as “an innocent father from Maryland.” Vance mocked Favreau, saying he must not have read the court documents because Abrego Garcia was a “convicted MS-13 gang member.”

The court documents, however, do not describe Abrego Garcia as a convicted gang member. Rather, a judge in 2019 denied him release from detention over a government informant’s claim that Abrego Garcia was a member of that gang. That decision was upheld by the Board of Immigration Appeals.