(NewsNation) —Kilmar Abrego Garcia remains at the center of a contentious legal battle between the Trump administration and those advocating for his return after he was erroneously deported to El Salvador in March.
On Friday, President Donald Trump listed allegations against Abrego Garcia that the Department of Homeland Security reported, stating he was part of the criminal organization MS-13.
“This man is a very violent person,” Trump said.
Abrego Garcia remains detained in an El Salvador mega prison despite a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that ordered the Trump administration to “facilitate” his return to the United States. Yet, officials are committed to keeping the 29-year-old in El Salvador.
U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis told attorneys she is contemplating contempt proceedings against the Trump administration for defying court orders regarding Abrego Garcia’s status.
Still, the White House remains defiant about its course of action, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt telling reporters that deporting Abrego Garcia was “always going to be the end result.”
Leavitt told NewsNation on Saturday: “President Trump promised the American people to use all lawful measures to remove the threat of terrorist illegal aliens, like members of TdA (Tren de Aragua), from the United States.
“We are confident in the lawfulness of the Administration’s actions and in ultimately prevailing against an onslaught of meritless litigation brought by radical activists who care more about the rights of terrorist aliens than those of the American people.”
Who is Kilmar Abrego Garcia?
Abrego Garcia is a citizen of El Salvador who entered the United States illegally. He has been living in Maryland with his U.S.-born wife and son after being provided protected legal status and legal work authorization in 2019. The protected status was granted after an immigration judge agreed with Abrego Garcia that his life was in danger if he was sent back to El Salvador.
Abrego Garcia testified that he feared returning because the Barrio 18 gang was targeting him and threatening him with death because of his family’s business.
Why was Kilmar Abrego Garcia deported?
Abrego Garcia was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on March 12 and questioned about his MS-13 affiliation. He was deported on March 15 on one of three flights to El Salvador that included alleged Venezuelan gang members.
The Justice Department argued on April 7 that although Abrego Garcia was deported through an “administrative error,” his removal from the U.S. was not an error.
The error, department attorneys wrote, was in having him deported specifically to El Salvador even though he had been protected from deportation through the 2019 order.
Is Kilmar Abrego Garcia a member of the MS-13 gang?
Federal officials maintain Abrego Garcia is an active member of the MS-13, which President Donald Trump classified as a foreign terrorist organization.
The Justice Department released a report from 2019 in which Abrego Garcia was interviewed by the Prince George’s County Police Department in Maryland. The report, part of a departmental Gang Field Interview Sheet, indicated that Abrego Garcia was seen wearing a Chicago Bulls baseball cap and a hoodie with rolls of money covering the eyes, ears and mouth of U.S presidents on the denominations of money when he was apprehended along with other men in a Home Depot parking lot.
Officers wrote that the Bulls cap represents that the person is a member in good standing of MS-13. The Officers spoke with confidential informants who said Abrego Garcia is an active member of the gang’s Westerns clique. The report indicated that at the time, Abrego Garcia had no known criminal background.
Since Abrego Garcia’s deportation, administration officials, including U.S. Attorney Pam Bondi, continue to characterize Abrego Garcia as an MS-13 gang member, which they say prevents him from being returned from El Salvador. However, one of Abrego Garcia’s attorneys, Benjamin Osorio, told NewsNation’s “CUOMO” he has seen “no evidence to date” that suggests gang ties.
“That would have barred him from that sort of (immigration) relief if he was a member of a gang,” Osorio told NewsNation. “So, I’ve seen nothing, an immigration judge has looked at it and (has) seen nothing, the District Court has looked at it and seen nothing, the 4th Circuit has criticized the (Trump) administration because it has put up nothing.”
What legal actions have been taken to address Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation?
Abrego Garcia’s case has reached the U.S. Supreme Court, which ordered the Trump administration to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return. The case reached the high court after U.S. District Court judges ruled against the administration’s decision to deport Abrego Garcia.
However, administration attorneys argue they are limited in returning someone to the country once they have been reported.
Bondi referred to the issue as “international matters” and “foreign affairs and said that the United States would follow the Supreme Court ruling to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s return if El Salvador agreed to provide an airplane that would return him.
El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele also said that he would not comply.
“How can I return him to the United States? I smuggle him into the United States? Of course, I’m not going to do it,” Bukele told reporters this week after meeting with Trump, adding, “The question is preposterous. We’re not very fond of releasing terrorists.”
Will Kilmar Abrego Garcia return to the US?
Bondi and other administration officials maintain Abrego Garcia will not be coming back to the United States. Department of Homeland Security officials said that if Abrego Garcia were to return, he would immediately be deported again.
“He is not coming back to our country,” Bondi told reporters. “President Bukele said he was not sending him back. That’s the end of the story …There was no situation ever where he was going to stay in this country. None.
She added: “He’s from El Salvador, he’s in El Salvador and that’s where the president plans on keeping him.”
Osorio told “CUOMO” this week that Abrego Garcia’s legal team thinks it can get their client back to the United States “at some point.”
Osorio said that he hopes the Trump administration will comply with the Supreme Court order, which he says gives him hope that Abrego Garcia will be returned.
“I think it’s in the government’s interest to avoid a constitutional crisis, I think it’s in El Salvador’s interest to avoid this,” Osorio said. “They don’t like the publicity on this right now. I think that’s why it’s hot. I think that’s why they’re trying to bury it.”
What is the Trump administration saying?
In addition to continuing to push Abrego Garcia’s MS-13 ties, administration officials released a series of documents on social media that they say prove their claims of not only gang affiliation, but that Abrego Garcia is violent.
DHS released a temporary restraining order that was filed in 2021 by Abrego Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, following a disagreement with her husband.
The affidavit for the temporary restraining order alleges that Abrego Garcia punched and scratched his wife, ripped her shirt, and grabbed and bruised her. In posting the order, DHS wrote that Abrego Garcia is “not the upstanding ‘Maryland man’ the media has portrayed him as.”
What is Kilmar Garcia’s family, lawyer saying?
In statements released to news outlets, including NewsNation, Vasquez Sura has continued to pledge her support for her husband. She said that she filed for the restraining order after a disagreement but said that things never escalated. She did not show up for a hearing regarding the order, and the matter did not proceed, she said.
This week, Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat, met with Abrego Garcia in the El Salvador prison after twice being denied access. Until that meeting, Abrego Garcia’s attorneys said that they had been denied access to him and that the detained migrant had not been able to speak with family members.
In an interview with NewsNation, U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., accused Van Hollen of “showboating.”
Van Hollen said that he was able to call Vasquez Sura and pass along a message of love.
“My children and my prayers have been answered,” Vasquez Sura said in a statement issued through CASA. “The efforts of my family and community in fighting for justice are being heard, because I now know that my husband is alive. God is listening, and the community is standing strong.
“We still have so many questions, hopes, and fears. I will continue praying and fighting for Kilmar’s return home.”
NewsNation’s Jackie Koppell provided reporting for this story