Trump admin tells judge man wrongly deported to El Salvador is alive, still detained

A Maryland man who was wrongly deported to El Salvador is alive and still detained in the country, the Trump administration said in a filing to a federal judge on Saturday.

Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia is being held at El Salvador’s Terrorism Confinement Center, according to Michael G. Kozak, a senior official in State Department’s Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, citing the United States’ embassy in San Salvador in the filing.

“He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador,” Kolzak also wrote.

The filing follows federal judge Paula Xinis’ order on Friday that the Trump administration provide daily updates on their efforts to return Abrego Garcia to the U.S.

In her new order, which was issued after the Supreme Court upheld her original order to bring Abrego Garcia back, Xinis directed the federal government to “take all available steps to facilitate the return” of Abrego Garcia to the U.S.as soon as possible. She also ordered the Justice Department to provide an immediate update on his location and status, the steps the government has taken so far to bring Abrego Garcia back and what additional actions it is considering.

The Trump administration on Friday asked for more time to answer Xinis’ questions, arguing that the government needs “a meaningful opportunity to review the Supreme Court’s decision before it is ordered to report what steps it will take in response to that decision.”

Abrego Garcia is a Salvadoran citizen who has lived in Maryland for almost 15 years. While he initially entered the U.S. without being granted legal status, a federal judge in 2019 granted him protection from being deported, due concerns for his safety if he were to return to El Salvador. He also has had no criminal record.

Abrego Garcia was arrested in March and, a few days later, placed on a flight with other men the Trump administration alleged were members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A Justice Department lawyer conceded in court that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was a mistake, or as he put it, an “administrative error.”

Abrego Garcia’s attorney, Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, said in a statement to NPR, “We are incredulous. Twenty-four more hours and still no answers as to what they’ve done so far, and what they’re planning to do going forward, to carry out the Supreme Court’s ruling.”

NPR’s Joel Rose, Nina Totenberg and Christina Gatti sontributed to this report.