Deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran man who was illegally deported from the United States on March 15, 2025, in what the Trump administration called "an administrative error". He was imprisoned without trial, initially in the Salvadoran maximum security Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), despite never having been charged with nor convicted of a crime in either country at the time, under the countries' agreement to imprison US deportees there for payment. The administration defended the deportation, publicly accusing him of being a member of MS-13 (a US-designated terrorist organization), an accusation based on a bail determination made during a 2019 immigration court proceeding and that Abrego Garcia denied.

Abrego Garcia grew up in El Salvador and then illegally immigrated to the United States around 2011 at the age of 16 to escape gang threats. In 2019, an immigration judge granted him withholding of removal status due to the danger he faced from gang violence if he returned to El Salvador. This status allowed him to live and work legally in the United States. At the time of his deportation in 2025, he lived in Maryland along with his wife and children, all American citizens, and was complying with annual check-ins with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Abrego Garcia's wife filed suit in Maryland on behalf of herself, Abrego Garcia, and their son, asking the government to return him to the US. The district court judge ordered the government to "facilitate and effectuate" his return, and the government appealed the ruling to the court of appeals, and then to the Supreme Court of the United States. On April 10, 2025, the Supreme Court stated unanimously that the government needed to "facilitate" Abrego Garcia's return to the United States. The court rejected the administration's defense, which claimed it lacked the legal authority to exercise jurisdiction over El Salvador and secure his return. In a concurring statement, Supreme Court justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote that this argument implied the government "could deport and incarcerate any person, including U. S. citizens, without legal consequence, so long as it does so before a court can intervene."

The Supreme Court stopped short of a lower court's directive to "facilitate and effectuate" his return, instead directing the lower court to clarify what it meant by "effectuate". The district court reworded the order to use only "facilitate." The administration interpreted "facilitate" to mean it was not obligated to arrange his release and return, and could meet its obligation by providing a plane and admitting him into the US if El Salvador chose to release him. President Nayib Bukele of El Salvador stated in an Oval Office meeting that he would not "smuggle a terrorist into the United States". Facilitating Abrego Garcia's return continued to be litigated in district court, including an order for expedited discovery. The government argued that the case involved state secrets, and refused various discovery requests on that basis. Abrego Garcia's lawyers responded that the administration was violating the judge's discovery order and that it should be sanctioned.

US senator Chris Van Hollen met Abrego Garcia in El Salvador on April 18, 2025, and Abrego Garcia said he had been transferred from CECOT to another prison in El Salvador, and was being held in isolation.

On June 6, 2025, the Trump administration brought Abrego Garcia back to the US, and the DOJ announced that he had been indicted in Tennessee for "conspiracy to unlawfully transport illegal aliens for financial gain" and "unlawful transportation of illegal aliens for financial gain." Ten days later, it asked the Maryland district court to dismiss the Maryland case brought by Abrego Garcia's wife, arguing that it was moot.