Considering how many people ICE has arrested and deported, it’s sadly not all that surprising they grabbed the wrong person. Unfortunately for Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, his peaceful life in Maryland was suddenly turned upside down when he was picked up by ICE and deported to El Salvador. On Friday, Federal Judge Paula Xinis ordered that the Maryland resident must be brought back to the United States by April 7, calling his deportation illegal and without any legal basis.
Before coming to the U.S., Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia had fled gang violence in El Salvador. He later managed to enter the country and has been living here legally since 2011. Despite having a valid work permit and court protection from deportation since 2019, ICE still picked up the Maryland resident and deported him along with other accused gang members on March 15.
A Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, Tricia McLaughlin, claimed there were ties between Abrego Garcia and the MS-13 gang. But his attorneys pushed back, saying there’s no evidence to support that. Earlier this week, the Trump administration admitted that Abrego Garcia’s deportation was the result of an administrative error.
Even though officials claimed they had no jurisdiction to bring him back from Salvadoran custody, Judge Xinis wasn’t having it. She made it clear that the government has a responsibility to fix its mistake.
With the innocent Maryland resident now stuck in a prison in El Salvador, his wife and children are still in the U.S., left to worry about him every day. Jennifer Vasquez Sura, his wife, spoke with CBS Mornings and shared just how scared she is.
“I’ve seen news about that prison, and I know they take criminals there. My husband’s not a criminal,” she said, clearly emotional. She said that if she had all the money in the world, she would spend it all just to have a phone call with her husband.
A lot of people were shocked and furious about what happened to the Maryland resident. “GOOD. Shame on literally every person involved in deporting him and all the shitheads on Reddit defending it,” one Redditor said bluntly.
Others were more focused on Abrego Garcia’s safety. Getting thrown into a prison in El Salvador isn’t something you can just brush off. “I feel awful saying this… but I’m not sure they’ll ever get this guy back. He’ll just be ‘lost’ in the system,” another user commented.
