A judge has ruled the U.S. government must return Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland father mistakenly deported to El Salvador in March, by the end of Monday.
That ruling was handed down Friday afternoon in a courtroom in Greenbelt, Maryland.
Before she issued her ruling, U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis described Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation as “an illegal act” and pressed Justice Department attorney Erez Reuveni for answers, many of which he didn’t have.
Reuveni conceded to Xinis that Kilmar Abrego Garcia should not have been removed from the U.S. and shouldn’t have been sent to El Salvador. He couldn’t tell the judge upon what authority he was arrested in Maryland.
“I’m also frustrated that I have no answers for you for a lot of these questions,” he said.
The judge also questioned why Kilmar Abrego Garcia was sent to the prison in El Salvador, which observers say is rife with human rights abuses.
“Why is he there, of all places?” asked Xinis, who was nominated by President Barack Obama.
“I don’t know,” Reuveni replied. “That information has not been given to me.”
The judge also questioned why the U.S. can’t get him back. Reuveni said that was the first question he asked when he was assigned to the case.
“I have not received today an answer that I find satisfactory,” he added.
Kilmar Abergo Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, told the judge he was dismayed that the government had done nothing to get his client back, even after admitting its errors.
Before the court hearing, his wife spoke at a rally in Langley Park, Maryland, where she was flanked by friends, supporters, advocates and union leaders who worked with her husband.
“If you are strong, I will be strong,” is what Jennifer Abrego Garcia said were the last words her husband spoke to her while he sat on a curb, handcuffed by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
The Maryland resident was mistakenly deported in March to a notoriously violent prison in El Salvador. President Donald Trump ’s administration acknowledged Monday his deportation was an “administrative error.”
“Days ago, I witnessed our 10-year-old daughter attempting to send messages to Kilmar from her tablet,” Jennifer Abrego Garcia said. “Telling him how much he misses him, wishing she could trade places with him to bring him back home.”
She said she would spend every dime she could to speak with her husband, who’s also the father of a 5-year-old boy.
“It’s a journey that no one ever should ever have to suffer,” she said. “A nightmare that feels endless.”
He fled El Salvador around 2011 because he and his family were facing threats by local gangs. In 2019, a U.S. immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to El Salvador because he was likely to face gang persecution. He was released and Immigrations and Customs Enforcement did not appeal the decision or try to deport him to another country.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s lawyer, Lucia Curiel, described the time in 2019 when she told him a federal judge had conceded that her client was not a part of MS-13, as was once alleged.
“I had never seen him smile so much in that moment,” Curiel said. “That news that I told him was true then, and it is true now. He should be here right now.”
Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a sheet metal worker, and members of the Sheet Metal Air, Rail and Transit Union were also on hand.
“This is an illegal deportation, and that is a fact,” SMART union general president Michael Coleman said. “When Kilmar was abducted, he wasn’t doing anything wrong. In fact, he had just picked up his 5-year-old son after a long day at work.”
He said Kilmar Abrego Garcia was a reliable worker in a demanding industry.
“We all need to imagine if this would happen to us, one of our family members, one of our friends, taken into custody, illegally deported and not being able to reach out to your loved ones tomorrow,” Coleman said. “Without any sign of due process, a pillar in which this country was founded, a pillar which actually makes America great.”
And he wrapped up his speech with a demand for the Trump Administration.
“It’s just not enough to admit that you made a mistake. You need to fix it,” said Coleman, his voice rising in the room where the rally was held. “To Kilmar’s family, to Kilmar’s friends, to Kilmar’s supporters, we are here with you. We will stay with you. We will organize, we will rally and we will fight until justice is served and Kilmar comes home.”
WTOP’s Scott Gelman and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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