Salvadoran Immigrant Challenges U.S. Deportation Policy
Follow-up
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi announced that a Salvadoran immigrant, mistakenly deported, has been returned to the United States from El Salvador, where he now faces charges of human smuggling.
The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, married to an American and residing in Maryland, exemplifies the ongoing tug-of-war for the past three months between the federal judiciary— including the Supreme Court— and the executive branch accused of obstructing the work of courts that oppose the mass deportation policy it enforces.
Abrego Garcia is one of over 250 men deported to El Salvador on March 15, mostly suspected of belonging to the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, which Washington has classified as a “terrorist” organization. In El Salvador, they were held in a high-security prison known for its harsh conditions.
The Trump administration acknowledged an “administrative error” in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s file, which had benefited from the cancellation of a deportation order to El Salvador in 2019.
Despite having no criminal record, the Trump administration accuses him of being a member of the Salvadoran gang MS-13, which the United States also designated as “terrorist” last February.
The attorney general stated that “Abrego Garcia has arrived in the United States to stand trial,” referring to the human smuggling charge since 2016 issued by a grand jury in Tennessee last May and published on Friday.
Bondi thanked Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele, stating that Washington has delivered an arrest warrant under which his return was approved.
She added that if he is found guilty, he will serve his sentence in the United States, then be deported to El Salvador.
