An Obama-appointed judge has ordered the Trump administration to return an alleged MS-13 gangbanger who was deported to a Salvadoran mega-prison.
U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis ordered the Trump administration Friday to return Abrego Garcia back to the U.S., according to court documents. While the administration has acknowledged that Abrego’s deportation was made in error, federal officials maintain that more than enough evidence substantiates accusations that he’s a documented member and local leader of MS-13, a ruthless criminal syndicate that’s been designated as a foreign terrorist organization.
In remarks on the ruling, Xinis, who was appointed to the bench by the Obama administration, called Garcia’s deportation “an illegal act” and questioned why he was transferred to El Salvador’s mega-prison, according to the Associated Press.
“Why is he there, of all places?” Xinis asked.
Garcia, a Salvadoran national who unlawfully entered the U.S. in 2011, was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents in March and eventually sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center (CECOT), a maximum security mega-prison in El Salvador that was built to hold documented MS-13 members and other gangbangers. However, the deportation was the result of an administrative error.
In October 2019, following his arrest by local police in Prince George’s County, Maryland, Garcia was granted a withholding of removal, a special status similar to asylum that largely bars federal immigration officials from deporting him back to home country. While in federal custody, the administration has acknowledged in court filings that it accidentally placed Garcia on one of the several deportation flights that took off on March 15 and landed in El Salvador.
However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has argued that Garcia needs to remain in detention — no matter what country that may be in.
“The individual in question is a member of the brutal MS-13 gang — we have intelligence reports that he is involved in human trafficking,” DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin previously in a statement provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
“Whether he is in El Salvador or a detention facility in the U.S., he should be locked up,” McLaughlin went on.
Allegations of Garcia’s connection to MS-13 began in March 2019 when officers from Prince George’s County Police Department arrested him and several other men while they were soliciting work near a Home Depot in Hyattsville, Maryland, according to court filings. While detained at a local police station, he denied accusations by authorities that he was affiliated with any gang.
However, after Garcia was transferred into federal immigration custody in 2019 and undergoing removal proceedings, ICE presented documentation compiled by the Prince George’s County Police Department that ostensibly verified his gang affiliation. A confidential informant for law enforcement advised that he was a documented member of MS-13, and also identified his alleged rank in the gang and his nickname.
After he was granted withholding of removal in 2019, he was released from federal custody and remained in Maryland -— until his arrest by ICE in March.
“The administration maintains the position that this individual, who was deported to El Salvador and will not be returning to our country, was a member of the brutal and vicious MS-13 gang,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt stated Monday. “Fact number two, we also have credible evidence that this individual was involved in human trafficking.”
The administration has also maintained that the court has no jurisdiction over the matter now that Garcia, a Salvadoran national, is back in his home country.
The Friday order marks the latest setback for the administration’s efforts to detain and deport illegal migrants. Judge James Boasberg, also appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, has blocked President Donald Trump from using wartime authority to quickly remove Tren de Aragua gangbangers and other judges have pumped the brakes on efforts to deport foreign student protesters accused of Hamas sympathies.
Xinis ordered the administration to return Garcia to the U.S. by no later than 11:59pm on April 7, according to court documents.
Editor’s note: This article has been updated to cite court documents pertaining to the case.
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