The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency finds itself at the center of a legal firestorm as attorneys for Kilmar Armado Abrego-Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran man with protected legal status, file a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court in Maryland, demanding his return from El Salvador’s notorious Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT) prison. ICE admits in a court filing on April 1, 2025, that Abrego-Garcia’s deportation on March 15, 2025, is an “administrative error,” despite a 2019 immigration judge’s ruling granting him “withholding of removal” status, which prohibits his deportation to El Salvador due to the risk of persecution. However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt doubles down on the deportation, alleging without evidence that Abrego-Garcia is a leader of the MS-13 gang and involved in human trafficking, claiming President Donald Trump’s policies are making America safer. As of 12:58 PM PDT on April 2, 2025, the case is igniting fierce debate over immigration policy, due process, and the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation tactics.
Abrego-Garcia, who has lived in Beltsville, Maryland, since entering the U.S. illegally in 2011 at age 16 to escape gang violence in El Salvador, is a unionized sheet metal worker supporting his U.S. citizen wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, their five-year-old autistic and intellectually disabled son, and two stepchildren. His legal troubles begin in 2019 when he is arrested outside a Home Depot in Hyattsville, Maryland, while soliciting work with three other men. Prince George’s County police question him about gang affiliations, citing his Chicago Bulls hat and hoodie and a confidential informant’s claim that he is an active MS-13 member in a Long Island clique—despite Abrego-Garcia never having lived there. The detective authoring the gang report is later suspended, and Abrego-Garcia’s name does not appear in the official police report. An immigration judge denies his asylum request but grants withholding of removal in October 2019, finding a “more likely than not” risk of harm if he returns to El Salvador. ICE does not appeal, and Abrego-Garcia is released, complying with annual check-ins ever since.
On March 12, 2025, ICE officers stop Abrego-Garcia while he is driving with his son, informing him that his “status has changed” despite their awareness of his protected status. The officers handcuff him, call Vasquez Sura to pick up their child within ten minutes—threatening Child Protective Services involvement if she fails to comply—and transfer him to a detention center in Texas. He is questioned again about gang affiliations, tells his wife he expects to see an immigration judge, but on March 15, he is deported on the third of three flights to El Salvador, carrying 238 Venezuelans and 23 Salvadorans, many accused of ties to MS-13 or the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. Acting ICE Field Office Director Robert Cerna admits in a sworn declaration that Abrego-Garcia is not on the initial flight manifest but is added as an “alternate” after others are removed, calling the deportation an “oversight” carried out in “good faith” based on a final removal order and alleged MS-13 ties.
Upon arrival in El Salvador, Abrego-Garcia is immediately detained in CECOT, a maximum-security “mega-prison” in Tecoluca known for extreme overcrowding, torture, and inhumane conditions. Vasquez Sura identifies him on March 16 in a news photo released by El Salvador’s Presidency Press Office, recognizing his decorative arm tattoo and two head scars as he is frog-marched into the prison by guards in black ski masks. CECOT, which houses 256 cells often holding nearly double their 80-inmate capacity, lacks windows, air conditioning, and outdoor access, with inmates confined 23.5 hours daily, denied reading materials, family visits, and adequate food and water. Human rights groups like Cristosal report at least 261 deaths in Salvadoran prisons since 2022, while Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch document widespread abuses at CECOT, where Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem recently tours on March 26, 2025, posting videos of packed cells.
Abrego-Garcia’s attorneys, led by Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, file a lawsuit on March 28, 2025, against ICE, the Department of Homeland Security, and several Cabinet members, including Secretary Noem, accusing them of knowingly deporting him in violation of his protected status and U.S. law, fully aware that El Salvador would detain him in CECOT, where torture is likely. The lawsuit demands his immediate return to the U.S. and a halt to U.S. payments to El Salvador—reportedly $6 million annually—for housing deportees. The filing asserts that Abrego-Garcia has no criminal record in the U.S. or elsewhere, has never been charged with a crime, and that the government “has never produced an iota of evidence” to support MS-13 allegations. Vasquez Sura, speaking to CBS News on April 2, 2025, refutes the gang claims, saying, “My husband is an amazing person, an amazing father. He’s not a criminal,” and expresses fear for his safety in CECOT, noting, “I’ve seen news of that prison. I know they take criminals there.”
The Trump administration’s response is contradictory. While ICE concedes the error, the Justice Department argues in its April 1 filing that federal courts lack jurisdiction to order Abrego-Garcia’s return since he is now in Salvadoran custody, claiming there is no clear evidence he will be tortured or killed in CECOT. The filing downplays abuses in Salvadoran prisons, stating they are “very few in relation to the large number of detainees.” However, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, during a briefing on April 1, 2025, defends the deportation, alleging without evidence that Abrego-Garcia is an MS-13 “leader” involved in human trafficking, calling the error “clerical” and asserting, “Foreign terrorists do not have legal protections in the United States of America anymore.” She adds that 17 more men are deported to CECOT on March 31, 2025, and claims President Trump is fulfilling his campaign promise to make America safer by eradicating MS-13, a gang he has designated a foreign terrorist organization.
The deportation flights are part of a broader Trump administration crackdown, invoking the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport alleged gang members, a move that sparks legal battles. U.S. District Judge James Boasberg halts the March 15 flights, citing due process violations, but the planes proceed, prompting Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele to taunt the judge on social media with “Oopsie.” Lawyers for many deportees, including Venezuelans, deny gang affiliations, arguing that tattoos—often cultural or sports-related—are misused as evidence. The administration’s pace of deportations is reportedly declining compared to the Biden era, yet its methods are increasingly controversial, with lawsuits also targeting the targeting of foreign students involved in pro-Palestinian activism.
Abrego-Garcia’s case draws outrage from Maryland officials. Senators Chris Van Hollen and Angela Alsobrooks call the deportation “unacceptable,” urging the administration to “right this wrong,” while Attorney General Anthony Brown labels it an “outrageous mistake” stemming from “inhumane and incompetent governing.” Immigration advocates, including CASA, decry the deportation as a “violation of a court order” that places Abrego-Garcia in “grave personal danger.” Sandoval-Moshenberg tells NPR he has never seen a case where the government knowingly deports someone with protected status, noting that in past wrongful deportation cases, the U.S. typically attempts to rectify the mistake—unlike here, where the administration claims it cannot act.
Breaking news updates as of 12:58 PM PDT on April 2, 2025, confirm a hearing is scheduled for April 4, 2025, at 1:00 PM Eastern before U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis, appointed by President Barack Obama in 2016, to address the lawsuit’s demands. Posts on X reflect public sentiment, with users questioning the administration’s refusal to correct the error, one asking, “The question is, what are they going to do about it?” Others highlight the lack of evidence for gang claims, noting Abrego-Garcia’s clean record and legal status, while some express frustration at the administration’s stance that the deportation is justified despite the admitted mistake.
The case underscores broader tensions in U.S. immigration policy under Trump’s second term, which began in January 2025. His administration has prioritized mass deportations, often bypassing due process, as seen in the use of the Alien Enemies Act—a wartime statute rarely invoked in modern times. Critics argue this approach disproportionately targets vulnerable immigrants, with little evidence of criminality, while supporters, including Vice President JD Vance, defend it as necessary for public safety, despite court documents not describing Abrego-Garcia as a convicted gang member. The controversy also raises questions about the conditions in CECOT and the U.S.’s role in funding such facilities, with human rights groups calling for accountability. For Abrego-Garcia’s family, the fight continues to bring him home, as they navigate the devastating impact of his absence and the uncertainty of his fate in one of the world’s most notorious prisons.
Sources:
- Video: https://youtu.be/0h9wud9H7gA
- Video: https://youtu.be/QUXFx_ptiis
- NBC News, “A man was sent to El Salvador due to ‘administrative error’ despite protected legal status, filings show,” April 1, 2025
- The Guardian, “Ice blames ‘error’ for deportation of man with protected legal status,” April 1, 2025
- CBS News, “Trump ICE official admits ‘administrative error’ in deporting man to El Salvador prison,” April 1, 2025
- CNN Politics, “Trump administration concedes Maryland father from El Salvador was mistakenly deported and sent to mega prison,” April 1, 2025
- ABC News, “ICE admits to an ‘administrative error’ after Maryland man sent to El Salvador prison,” April 1, 2025
- AP News, “An ‘administrative error’ sent Maryland man to an El Salvador prison, ICE says,” April 1, 2025
- Reuters, “Trump administration says man was deported to El Salvador in error,” April 1, 2025
- NPR, “Trump administration admits Maryland man sent to El Salvador prison by mistake,” April 1, 2025
- The Atlantic, “An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison,” April 1, 2025
- CBS News, “Wife of man mistakenly sent to El Salvador prison says she fears for his safety: ‘My husband’s not a criminal’,” April 2, 2025
- Scripps News, “Man granted asylum sent to El Salvador prison due to ‘administrative error’,” April 1, 2025
- The New York Times, “U.S. Says Deportation of Maryland Man Was an ‘Administrative Error’,” April 1, 2025
- MSNBC, “ICE admits to deporting a Maryland father to El Salvador due to an ‘administrative error’,” April 1, 2025
- PBS News, “ICE: ‘Administrative error’ sent a Maryland man to an El Salvador prison,” April 1, 2025
- Axios, “Trump administration says it erroneously deported man to El Salvador,” April 1, 2025
- The Baltimore Banner, “‘Devastated and confused’: Wife of Maryland man mistakenly deported decries her family’s fate,” April 1, 2025
- The Hill, “Trump administration admits it wrongly deported man to prison in El Salvador,” April 1, 2025
- Washington Examiner, “ICE admits ‘administrative error’ in sending protected Maryland resident to Salvadoran prison,” April 1, 2025
- South Dakota Searchlight, “ICE admits to ‘administrative error’ in deporting Maryland man to El Salvador mega-prison,” April 1, 2025
- Maryland Matters, “ICE: ‘Administrative error’ led to deporting Maryland man to El Salvador mega-prison,” April 1, 2025
- POLITICO, “Trump administration admits ‘error’ in deporting Maryland resident to El Salvador,” April 1, 2025
