Judge Orders Retrieval of Kilmar Abrego Garcia from El Salvador

Federal District Court Judge Paula Xinis ruled that no later than 7 April 2025 at 23:59, the government must retrieve Kilmar Abrego Garcia from the CECOT prison in El Salvador, to which he was sent by mistake.

Abrego Garcia had lived in Maryland since 2011. He had legal protected status and a 2019 order from an immigration judge specifying that if he was ever deported, he must not be sent to El Salvador due to likely persecution by gangs there.

He was sent to CECOT on 15 March 2025 without notice or due process, using the Alien Enemies Act for authority, based on an allegation that he belonged to the MS-13 gang. The government has not shown any evidence to support this allegation.

Abrego Garcia’s attorney Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg filed suit to get him returned to the USA.

In the court hearing, Department of Justice attorney Erez Reuveni said Abrego Garcia “should not have been removed” and he did not know why Abrego Garcia was arrested. “You’re not going to like my answer to a lot of this. I am also frustrated that I also have no answers for you on a lot of these questions.”

Reuveni added, “The absence of evidence speaks for itself.”

Reuveni asked Judge Xinis to give the government “one more chance to do this without court superintendence.”

Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claimed the court does not have authority to demand Abrego Garcia’s return because the government moved him out of the country and the USA has no power to make El Salvador do anything about him. Noem was at the prison last week shooting a video with inmates in the background.

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