Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia? The man Trump officials mistakenly deported to Salvadoran prison

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Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia’s case has ignited a legal and diplomatic battle involving immigration policies and gang affiliation claims. Despite a judge’s order, Abrego Garcia was mistakenly deported to El Salvador and is now held in a maximum-security prison. The Trump administration’s refusal to comply with a Supreme Court directive to bring him back has intensified the standoff.

The story of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is quickly turning into the centre of a growing legal and diplomatic fight—one that involves immigration policy, claims of gang links, and a struggle between the US courts and the Trump administration.

Abrego Garcia, 29, was living legally in Maryland with his wife and child under a special immigration status that protected him from being deported. But despite a judge’s order allowing him to remain in the United States due to fears of gang persecution in El Salvador, he was mistakenly deported last month, reports BBC.

The Trump administration later admitted the removal was the result of an “administrative error”, but has since refused to comply with a Supreme Court directive to bring him back. He is now being held in Cecot, El Salvador’s maximum-security prison built for suspected terrorists and gang members.

From Maryland to a prison

Originally from El Salvador, Abrego Garcia crossed into the United States illegally around 2011. In 2019, he was detained by immigration officials in Maryland. A judge later ruled that he could stay in the country because returning home posed a threat to his safety.

His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, a US citizen, has accused both the Trump and Bukele administrations of playing “political games” with his life.

García has no criminal record in either the US or El Salvador and has never been charged with any gang-related activity.

However, Trump officials claim he has ties to MS-13 — a violent criminal gang that started in Los Angeles in the 1980s and later spread to Central America.

A federal judge dismissed the allegation as “a singular unsubstantiated allegation,” and Abrego Garcia’s lawyers insist the claims are baseless.

Legal orders ignored

In early April, US District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the government to return Abrego Garcia by April 7.

However, the Trump administration took the case to the Supreme Court, which ruled unanimously that the government must help bring him back. But the court did not give a deadline for when he must be released.

Judge Xinis has since demanded daily updates on the government’s efforts and has warned she will determine whether the administration is acting in “good faith” or defying court orders.

Meanwhile, the department of justice has signalled it will detain Abrego Garcia again if he returns, either to deport him to another country or to attempt once more to send him back to El Salvador by terminating his protected status.

Diplomatic standoff

El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele, during a press conference with Donald Trump, said he would not release Abrego Garcia or return him to the United States.

“How can I smuggle a terrorist into the United States?” Bukele asked. “I don’t have the power to return him.”

US attorney general Pam Bondi echoed that it was “up to El Salvador if they want to return him”, adding that the US would “facilitate it” if so.

On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed Democrats and the media had portrayed Abrego Garcia as “a candidate for father of the year”, while asserting again that he was tied to MS-13.

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