A federal judge in Maryland has granted a preliminary judicial order and ordered the Government to facilitate the return of Kilmar Armando Abrego García, Maryland’s man who was deported to El Salvador by mistake, Monday.
“I am going to grant the preliminary judicial order motion that I have reviewed, and I will read this word by word, so that there is no dispute that the oral order is the written order,” said the Judge of the US District Paula Xinis at the Firday hearing, referring to the case of the court of the alien enemies in which the Government did not carry out the oral order of another judge.
“Therefore, the two defendants are ordered to facilitate the return of the plaintiff Kilmar Armando Abrego García to the United States no later than 11:59 pm on Monday, April 7, 2025,” Judge Xinis said.
Abrego García was sent to El Salvador as part of what the Trump administration described as a $ 6 million agreement with the Salvadoran authorities in which they would house deported migrants in exchange for payment. However, at the Audience on Friday, the lawyer of the Department of Justice denied that there was such a contract.
“However, the way I see the registration is that there is an agreement between its clients and El Salvador where its customers are [paying] More than $ 6 million to house people, “Judge Xinis said.” There is nothing that suggests that they are not yet in the custody of DHS and immigration. “
Erez Reuveni, interim deputy director of the Immigration Litigation Office for the Department of Justice, replied: “There is nothing in the registry that there is a contract.”
When Judge Xinis retreated and said that Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the National Security Department Kristi Noem have talked about an agreement between the two countries, Reuveni said he could not speak for them.
This photo provided by home, an immigrant defense organization, in April 2025, shows Kilmar Abrego García.
House through AP
“I can’t talk about where they obtained their information,” said Reuvani. “But neither said there is contact.”
“They may not have used the contract of the word, but the agreement is very similar to the contract where we pay $ 6 million,” Judge Xinis replied. “I think I can draw a logical inference.”
Abrego García, despite having protected the legal status, was sent to the notorious mega prison of Cecot in El Salvador after what the government said it was an “administrative error.”
“The facts are admitted,” Reuvani said during Friday’s audience. “Mr. Abrego García should not have been eliminated.”
Although the Government has recognized the error, he said in a presentation of a previous court that because Abrego García was no longer in custody of the United States, the court cannot order that they return it to the United States, nor can the court order the Savior to return it.
Last month, Abrego García, who has an American citizen and 5 -year -old son, was arrested by ICE officers who “informed him that his immigration status had changed,” according to his lawyers. He was arrested and then transferred to a detention center in Texas, after which he was sent to the Cecot prison in El Salvador, along with more than 200 alleged members of Venezuelan gangs, on March 15.
Abrego García entered the United States in 2011 when he was 16 to escape the violence of gangs in El Salvador, according to his lawyers. His lawyers say that in 2019, a confidential informant “had reported that Abrego García was an active member” of the MS-13 gang. Abrego García then submitted an I-589 asylum application, and although he was found removable, an immigration judge “gave him the retention of the removal to El Salvador,” lawyers said.
Abrego García’s lawyers say that he “is not a member or does not have affiliation with a Aragua train, MS-13, or any other criminal or street gang” and said that the United States government “has never produced an evidence iota to support this infallible accusation.”
On Tuesday, the White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, while recognizing the government’s mistake by sending him to El Salvador, called Abrego García, a MS-13 leader.
“The administration maintains the position that this individual who was deported to El Salvador and will not return to our country was a member of the brutal and vicious gang MS-13,” Leavitt said.
Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, the lawyer who represents Abrego García, acknowledged at the Friday hearing that his client could have been transferred to another county, but not the Savior.
“It was certainly removable for many Earth countries: El Salvador is simply not one of them,” said Sandoval-Moshenberg.
“There was no elimination order in terms of El Salvador,” he added. “This was essentially the equivalent of forced expulsion.”
When Judge Xinis asked under what authority, the agents of the law seized Abrego García, Reuveni said he was frustrated because he did not have those answers.
“His honor, my answer to many of these questions will be frustrating and I am also frustrated to have no answers to you in many of these questions,” said Reuvani.
After the audience, Abrego García’s wife said she will continue to fight for her husband.
“I want to thank all those who have helped us, who have supported us to fight this, and we will continue to fight for Kilmar, for my husband,” said Jennifer Varquez Sura.
