Judge orders Maryland man mistakenly deported released from Salvadoran prison

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Trump administration to return to the U.S. a Maryland man it mistakenly deported to a prison in El Salvador.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Salvadoran national who resides in Maryland, was protected from removal by a judge in 2019.

The Trump administration admitted in court filings earlier this week that it sent him to El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, also known as CECOT, due to an “administrative error.”

The order from U.S. District Court Judge Paula Xinis instructs the Trump administration to bring Abrego Garcia to the U.S. by end of day Monday.

Xinis’s brief order determined that Abrego Garcia’s “continued presence in El Salvador, for obvious reasons, constitutes irreparable harm” and noted that he was removed from the U.S. “without any legal process.”

Abrego Garcia’s wife, a U.S. citizen, filed the suit that led to Friday's decision. He's the only one of the more than 200 men sent to the prison who has been ordered to be returned to the United States.

The order raises questions about what steps the Trump administration might take to secure his return, having previously said the case raises “difficult questions.”

“The United States does not have custody over Abrego Garcia. They acknowledge that there may be ‘difficult questions of redressability’ in this case, reflecting their recognition that Defendants do not have ‘the power to produce’ Abrego Garcia from CECOT in El Salvador,” the Justice Department wrote earlier this week.

“The most they ask for is a court order that the United States entreat—or even cajole—a close ally in its fight against transnational cartels.”

The Trump administration has accused Abrego Garcia, like others deported to the prison, of being a member of a gang.

But Abrego Garcia’s lawyers have denied that he is a member of MS-13, saying he fled to the U.S. to escape gang violence in El Salvador. The allegation is based on a confidential informant’s claim in 2019 that Abrego Garcia was a member of a chapter in New York, where he has never lived.

Experts say the case shows the high stakes involved as the Trump administration moves to deport men to the prison without any judicial review of their alleged gang ties.

Andry Hernández Romero, a makeup artist from Venezuela, was accused of being a member of the Tren de Aragua gang based on having tattoos reading “mom” and “dad” in Spanish beneath a crown. Friends have said the crown was a nod to the Three Kings Day celebrations his hometown is known for. He was sent to the Salvadoran prison just days before he was due in court.

Another, a soccer player, was identified as a gang member citing his tattoos, but the designs were a nod to the Spanish soccer powerhouse Real Madrid.

The Associated Press contributed.

Updated 3:47 p.m.