Kilmar Abrego Garcia, erroneously deported to El Salvador, unaware of global attention on his case

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland resident deported to El Salvador mistakenly despite being in the US legally, has been transferred out of the country’s most notorious prison, CECOT. His erroneous deportation to El Salvador despite court orders barring such a move has spawned a legal and diplomatic storm. 

The Trump administration dispatched the 28-year-old father of three, living in the US for more than a decade, to El Salvador on allegations of his affiliation with the notorious MS-13 gang even though he never faced any criminal charges to this effect in the US.
US authorities conceded that an undesired ‘administrative error’ led to Garcia’s deportation after his wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, denied all allegations, painting him instead as a hard-working sheet metal apprentice and devoted husband and dad.

Abrego Garcia was born in Los Nogales, El Salvador, and grew up helping his family run a business making pupusa, a local delicacy, and in his early life he witnessed threats and extortion from local gang members. In search of safety, he crossed the border at the age of 16 in 2012 and settled in Maryland with his brother, a US citizen.
Garcia married a US citizen, raised three children, including two stepchildren, and worked as a sheet metal apprentice in the construction sector.

Garcia’s problems had started in March 2019 when he was detained in Hyattsville, Maryland, with three others, and they were labelled by cops as loiterers and suspected gang affiliation based on a confidential source. The same assumptions became the basis for the claims that he was linked to MS-13.
His lawyers insisted that there was no reliable evidence in record to support the claim of his gang membership, and documents revealed inconsistencies in how police had documented the incident.

Ivan Mendez, one of the arresting officers, was later convicted of misconduct in an unrelated case and removed from duty, casting doubt on the credibility of the original gang allegations.

An immigration judge had granted Abrego Garcia protection from being deported to El Salvador 2019, citing his ‘well-founded’ fear of future persecution from local gangs, allowing him to stay in the US under strict conditions, including annual check-ins with immigration authorities. He had the right to live and work in the US temporarily.
On March 15, 2025, Abrego Garcia was abruptly deported to El Salvador in violation of the standing court order. 
The Trump administration now says that it lacks jurisdiction to bring him back as he is outside the country, even after the Supreme Court’s order to ‘facilitate’ his return and show evidence of such efforts.

US Senator Chris Van Hollen went to San Salvador and managed to meet Garcia in person after several denials. He shared that Garcia had been transferred out of the country’s most notorious prison, CECOT. 

Van Hollen also shared that Garcia had no idea that his case had garnered so much attention and sent a message for his wife and children: he misses them.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele later said that Abrego Garcia would remain incarcerated.

The Department of Homeland Security, meanwhile, continued to release claims against Abrego Garci, including involvement in a 2022 Tennessee traffic stop and alleged suspicion of human trafficking. No charges were filed.

DHS also shared a temporary restraining order sought by his wife in 2021, which she later dropped. “No one is perfect, and no marriage is perfect. That is not a justification for ICE’s action of abducting him and deporting him to a country where he was supposed to be protected from deportation,” she stated.

Garcia remains behind bars in El Salvador, while his wife and supporters are fighting legal battles in US courts to bring him home.