Kilmar Abrego Garcia ‘alive and secure’ in El Salvador prison, Trump administration says

• Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland father wrongly deported to El Salvador, is being held in a mega-prison there.
• The Supreme Court and a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia and provide information on his location.
• A hearing on the matter is scheduled for April 16.

A Maryland father who was improperly deported to El Salvador is being held at a mega-prison there, a State Department official said in new court filings.

The U.S. Supreme Court on April 10 directed the Trump administration to facilitate the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a 29-year-old Salvadoran national who has lived in the United States for over a decade. The next day, a federal judge ordered the Trump administration to provide immediate information on his whereabouts.

Michael Kozak, a senior bureau official in the State Department, filed a brief April 12 affirming Abrego Garcia was alive.

“It is my understanding based on official reporting from our Embassy in San Salvador that Abrego Garcia is currently being held in the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador,” he wrote. “He is alive and secure in that facility. He is detained pursuant to the sovereign, domestic authority of El Salvador.”

The Trump administration has provided few details on how officials plan to return Abrego Garcia to the United States despite court-ordered daily updates.

U.S. District Judge Paula Xinis of Maryland mandated federal officials submit daily reports on where Abrego Garcia is and the steps officials have taken or will take to return him ahead of the next hearing on April 16.

The Trump administration has said it errantly detained and deported him to El Salvador and placed him in the Terrorism Confinement Center, or CECOT, nearly a month ago.

“They’ve had plenty of time. … He should be here in the United States. It’s a five-hour flight,” said Simon Sandoval-Moshenberg, cocounsel for Abrego Garcia.

The family has asked that officials provide personnel to ensure his safe passage to the plane that will return him to the United States and requested that the U.S. government provide him paperwork to reenter and remain in the United States.

Administration officials say they have no control over his custody despite previously saying they have a $6 million agreement with the Salvadoran government to house hundreds of migrants the administration has accused of gang ties. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem has also visited CECOT, including when Abrego Garcia was in custody.

Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele is scheduled to arrive for a White House visit April 14 after being invited by President Donald Trump. The White House has dismissed the possibility of Bukele returning Abrego Garcia on his plane.

In court on April 11, Xinis, who was nominated by former President Barack Obama, repeatedly pressed Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign for information on Abrego Garcia’s status and whereabouts. Ensign told the judge administration officials hadn’t told him more, as Xinis had previously ordered. 

Federal immigration agents arrested Abrego Garcia, a sheet metal worker, on March 12 after pulling him over in an Ikea parking lot near his home in Beltsville, Maryland, about half an hour outside of Washington. The Trump administration has accused him of being a member of the MS-13 criminal gang. The government hasn’t provided evidence requested by the judge to support the accusation. 

His wife, Jennifer Vasquez Sura, and their 5-year-old son, who was in the backseat when he was detained, sued the government for his return.

Contributing: Gabrielle Banks, Michael Collins

This post was originally published on this site be sure to check out more of their content.