Mistakenly deported man is alive and detained in El Salvador, Trump admin says
The Trump administration, in a filing posted to the docket several minutes after a 5 p.m. Saturday deadline, said Kilmar Abrego Garcia is alive and remains detained in El Salvador.
The Trump administration, in a filing posted to the docket several minutes after a 5 p.m. Saturday deadline, said a man mistakenly deported to El Salvador is alive and remains detained there.
The late-in-the-day filing is in an effort to comply with Maryland-based U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis’ order from Friday, which demanded the government provide a daily status report on Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts and conditions, along with any efforts being taken to bring him back to the United States.
“It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador,” Michael G. Kozak, a senior bureau official in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs at the State Department, wrote in a two-page sworn declaration. “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”
In a separate filing also submitted Saturday evening, asking for additional relief, attorneys for Abrego Garcia used President Donald Trump’s words against him.
Kilmar Abrego Garcia.via Facebook“Yesterday, President Trump confirmed that the United States has the power to facilitate Abrego Garcia’s release from prison and return to the United States: ‘If the Supreme Court said, ‘Bring somebody back,’ I would do that. ... I respect the Supreme Court,” the attorneys quoted Trump as telling reporters Friday night.
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