A US federal judge has issued a blistering ruling against the Trump administration after immigration officials admitted to mistakenly deporting a Venezuelan man, Kilmar Abrego Garcia, to a high-security prison in El Salvador, despite his legal protection against removal from the United States.
In a strongly worded 22-page opinion delivered Sunday, US District Judge Paula Xinis reaffirmed her earlier order that Garcia must be returned to the United States by Monday night. She declared that Garcia was “seized without any lawful authority” and held “without legal basis,” calling the deportation a “grievous error” that “shocks the conscience.”
Garcia was deported in mid-March along with over 260 others to the Center for the Confinement of Terrorism (Cecot), a notorious mega-prison in El Salvador known for housing alleged gang members. US officials claimed Garcia had ties to MS-13, a gang labeled a terrorist organization by the Trump administration—an allegation his lawyer adamantly denies. Garcia has never been charged with a crime, and a US immigration judge granted him legal protection from deportation in 2019.
Despite the court order, Trump officials argue they are unable to secure Garcia’s return, claiming they lack the authority to remove him from custody in El Salvador. The Justice Department has since appealed Judge Xinis’ decision, with a ruling from the appellate court expected by Sunday evening.
Judge Xinis dismissed the administration’s argument as legally baseless. “As defendants acknowledge, they had no legal authority to arrest him, no justification to detain him, and no grounds to send him to El Salvador—let alone deliver him into one of the most dangerous prisons in the Western Hemisphere,” she wrote.
She also criticised the government’s attempt to downplay the deportation as an “administrative error.” Her opinion underscores that federal immigration laws and protections cannot be simply discarded. “Surely, Defendants do not mean to suggest that they have wholesale erased the substantive and procedural protections of federal immigration law… by dropping those individuals in Cecot without recourse,” she added.
Garcia’s wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura—a US citizen—has been publicly demanding his return and decrying the trauma the deportation has caused their family.
Meanwhile, the White House continued to defend the deportation. Attorney General Pam Bondi, speaking on Fox News, doubled down on the administration’s claim that Garcia was affiliated with MS-13, but offered no supporting evidence. She also confirmed that Erez Reuvani, the Justice Department lawyer who argued the case, had been placed on leave after admitting in court he lacked key information about Garcia’s deportation.
“He shouldn’t have taken the case,” Bondi said. “You have to vigorously argue on behalf of your client.”
Former President Trump also weighed in during his return flight from Florida to Washington, reiterating claims of gang affiliation without naming Garcia directly. He also revealed that El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele is expected to visit the White House soon. One topic of discussion, Trump said, will be the possibility of El Salvador jailing American citizens convicted of crimes.
“I love that,” Trump said of the idea. “If we could get El Salvador or somebody to take them, I’d be very happy with it—but I have to see what the law says.”
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