Judge orders Trump to return Maryland father deported to El Salvador

The arrest and wrongful removal of a Salvadoran immigrant from the United States was unconstitutional “from the moment he was seized,” a federal judge told lawyers for Donald Trump’s administration on Friday.

District Judge Paula Xinis has ordered the administration to return Kilman Abrego Garcia to Maryland from El Salvador after government attorneys argued in court filings that the case was no longer in their hands.

“He was apprehended without legal basis … and without due process,” Judge Xinis said.

Abrego Garcia must be returned to the United States by midnight on April 7, according to the judge’s order.

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“This is a highly unusual circumstance. I dare say unprecedented,” she told attorneys for the government. “From the moment he was seized it was unconstitutional.”

Abrego Garcia was deported to El Salvador on March 15, joining dozens of mostly Venezuelan immigrants on removal flights after the president secretly invoked the Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport alleged Tren de Aragua gang members.

Two of the planes were sent to El Salvador under that wartime authority, and a third plane was supposed to only be carrying immigrants with court orders for their removal. Abrego Garcia was on that plane — something administration officials have called an “oversight” — despite no orders for his removal from the country.

In 2019, a judge had blocked Abrego Garcia’s removal after credible testimony that he fears violence and death in his home country, which he fled in 2011 when he was 16 years old. Under that order, he is allowed to remain in the United States legally, and must attend regular check-ins with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. His most recent appearance was in January, according to court documents.

He has no criminal record in either the United States or El Salvador, according to his attorney. He has been living in Maryland with his wife and five-year-old child, both U.S. citizens, and helping raise two children from a previous relationship.

But government attorneys admitted in court documents this week that Abrego Garcia was placed in removal proceedings due to an “administrative error,” but the administration effectively said it could not return him because he is no longer in the United States and thus not under its jurisdiction.

Following news of the government’s admission, administration officials quickly defended his removal. Vice President JD Vance falsely labeled Abrego Garcia a “convicted gang member.” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt admitted there was a “clerical error” in his case, but claimed, without providing evidence, that Garcia was a “leader” of the MS-13 gang, and “involved in human trafficking.”

Following the court’s order, Homeland Security spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin told Fox News that Abrego Garcia is “not some Maryland father as the mainstream media will have you believe.” She repeated accusations that he is a member of MS-13 and was “involved in human trafficking.”

“It’s unbelievable the framing of this,” she said. “He should be locked up.”

The Independent has requested comment from the State Department. The White House referred to McLaughlin’s comments as its official position.

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Justice Department lawyer Erez Reuveni, the acting director of the Office of Immigration Litigation, admitted on Friday that there is nothing in evidence that would support authorities’ decision to remove him.

“The plaintiff should not have been removed. That is not in dispute,” he said.

Judge Xinis said the administration’s actions amount to “an outright violation” of the law.

“There’s no lawful way” he could have been removed if he was subject to a court order that blocked his removal, she said.

Asked on what basis the government deported him to a Salvadoran prison that has been condemned by human rights organizations, Erez said: “I don’t know.”

Erez appeared to suggest that the administration was acting against the advice of his office.

A separate federal judge in Washington, D.C. has temporarily blocked Trump from deporting immigrants under the Alien Enemies Act, a block that was upheld by appellate court judges last week. The administration is now asking the Supreme Court to intervene and overturn the judge’s order.

District Judge James Boasberg, who is overseeing that case, is considering whether to hold Trump administration officials in contempt after they appeared to ignore his court orders that blocked the flights from reaching El Salvador in the first place.