(NewsNation) — A Salvadorian national living in Maryland who had received protection from removal was nonetheless deported in March to El Salvador, the Justice Department admitted in court papers filed Monday.
Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia was stopped on March 12 by Immigration and Customs officers who told him his immigration status had changed, according to the Justice Department. The DOJ said he was questioned about gang affiliation and transferred to a detention center in Texas.
“On March 15, although ICE was aware of his protection from removal to El Salvador, Abrego Garcia was removed to El Salvador because of an administrative error,” Justice Department attorneys wrote in their Monday filing.
The next day a news article contained a picture of detainees entering El Salvador’s notorious CECOT prison. Abrego Garcia’s wife identified her husband based on his tattoos and head scars, the government said.
Abrego Garcia’s two U.S. citizen family members have sued the government officials. They are asking a U.S. district court judge to order the federal government to request El Salvador return Abrego Garcia. The family is also asking the government to stop paying El Salvador compensation to house Abrego Garcia.
The Justice Department opposes those requests. It argues there must be a person within the jurisdiction of the District Court for a judge to be able to make a judgment about the custody of Abrego Garcia.
“Because this Court has no power over a foreign sovereign” — El Salvador — and because DOJ does not believe the family will be successful in its request to return Abrego Garcia, the government argues his relatives do not have the ability to bring the case.
Abrego Garcia had been ordered deported in 2019. During a court hearing on his case, ICE stated a confidential informant had alleged he was a member of the deadly MS-13 gang. However, a judge granted his asylum request.
“Although Abrego Garcia was found removable, the immigration judge granted him withholding of removal to El Salvador in an order dated October 10, 2019,” the Justice Department stated in its filing.
The Trump administration also argues in its Monday filing an order as the family seeks “would harm the public interest by preventing the Executive from implementing a unified course of conduct for the United States’ foreign affairs.”
“The heavy interest in the President’s primacy in foreign affairs outweigh the interests on the Plaintiffs’ side of the scale. Although the Defendants recognize the financial and emotional hardships to Abrego Garcia’s family, the public interest in not returning a member of a violent criminal gang to the United States outweighs those individual interests,” the filing continues.
The Justice Department filing and its admission were first reported by The Atlantic magazine.
