Judge orders return of mistakenly deported Maryland man – Washington Examiner
A federal judge in Maryland, Paula Xinis, has ordered teh return of Kilmar Abrego-Garcia, a Salvadoran national who was mistakenly deported by the Trump administration, back to the United States by Monday night. The judge ruled that the deportation violated immigration law, as it was acknowledged in court filings that it was an “administrative error.” Abrego-Garcia was deported alongside over 250 alleged gang members on March 15, with the Department of Justice arguing that the error was irreversible since it involved a foreign prison. Though, the court found that he had not been given due process and had previously established that his life would be in danger if returned to El Salvador. The DOJ may attempt to reverse the judge’s order before the deadline.
Judge orders Trump officials to return mistakenly deported Maryland man
A judge ruled on Friday that the Trump administration must return a Salvadoran national, whom it mistakenly deported to a mega-prison in El Salvador, back to the United States no later than Monday night.
Judge Paula Xinis, a federal judge in Maryland, said in an order that Trump officials violated immigration law by deporting Kilmar Abrego-Garcia along with more than 250 alleged Venezuelan and Salvadoran gang members on March 15.
Xinis, an appointee of former President Barack Obama, said Trump officials must “facilitate and effectuate” Abrego-Garcia’s return after they admitted in court filings that his deportation was an “administrative error.”
The Department of Justice, which has been defending Trump’s aggressive and novel deportation strategy in multiple court cases, had argued to Xinis that the error was irreversible because the U.S. has no authority over another country’s prison.
The White House said the administration had evidence that Abrego-Garcia was allegedly a member of the MS-13 gang and that the error was, therefore, trivial because he belonged behind bars.
According to court records, Abrego-Garcia was previously detained in 2019, and an immigration judge found at the time that the Department of Homeland Security’s allegation that Abrego-Garcia was in MS-13 came from a reliable source.
Abrego-Garcia, a sheet metal worker who entered the U.S. illegally around 2012, was living in Maryland with his wife and children and had no criminal convictions or charges on his record when he was abruptly arrested on March 12 and deported days later, without any due process, to a terrorism confinement center in El Salvador known as CECOT.
A separate immigration judge found that Abrego-Garcia had also made a credible case that his life would be in danger if he were deported back to his home country. That judge released him from custody months after he was detained in 2019 and issued an order that barred the government from deporting him to El Salvador.
WHAT WE KNOW ABOUT MARYLAND MAN’S DEPORTATION TO SALVADORAN MEGAPRISON
Abrego-Garcia’s attorney acknowledged in court filings that his client could certainly be entered into removal proceedings through routine protocols and that he was entitled under immigration law to appear before an immigration judge as part of that process.
Xinis’s order was issued on an emergency basis, and the DOJ could attempt to reverse her order before the Monday deadline to return Abrego-Garcia. A DOJ spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.
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