Note: This report originally aired on The World Telegram NewsRadio on April 18th 2025. While we've made our best effort to make this article as up-to-date as possible, there may be updates that happened after we went off-air. We'll do our best to account for these changes with Addendums towards the bottom of the report to maintain the original structure of our reporting. If there are major updates, we will include them in the body of the report. Thank you for understanding.
BUFFALO, NEW YORK – Outrage continues after the Trump administration and El Salvador’s President Bukele say they can’t, and won't return a man they sent to El Salvador’s mega-prison in error.
The man, Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia, entered the country illegally around 2011, but his lawyer insists that he is not affiliated with any gang and has never been charged with a crime.
Garcia met his now-wife in 2019, making him eligible for naturalization through marriage either now or in a few years’ time depending on when they got married.
Update, April 20th: That same year, the Prince George's County Police Gang Unit in Maryland allegedly validated Abrego Garcia as a member of MS-13, according to an investigative report by ICE. There was a "Withholding of Removal" status placed on him, meaning there were plans to deport him sooner or later, but because of the danger in El Salvador (which Abrego Garcia would've had to been able to support with evidence), an immigrations judge allowed him to stay temporarily. See Addendums for more info.
An appeal obtained by The World Telegram News revealed that Abrego Garcia had come to the U.S. as a teenager to escape gang violence that was targeting his family.
It also noted that he was arrested in front of his 5-year-old son by ICE officers on March 12th and deported to CECOT, or the Terrorism Confinement Center in El Salvador, on March 15th.
Editor's Note: CECOT has come under fire for harsh conditions for its inmates, with many people making the claim that once you go into CECOT, you never come out.
On April 1st, Immigration and Customs Enforcement said they sent him to the mega-prison by accident, calling it an “administrative error.”
A federal judge in Maryland issued an injunction that ordered the federal government to return Abrego Garcia back to the United States on April 5th.
Meanwhile, the administration has maintained that he was a criminal and a member of the MS-13 gang. This was also the language used in official court filings by the Department of Homeland Security. In an April 7th request by DHS asking for a pause on legal stipulations for returning him to the United States, they maintained, “the alien is no ordinary individual, but rather a member of a designated foreign terrorist organization, MS-13,” adding on page 7, “while the United States concedes that removal to El Salvador was an administrative error, see App., infra, 60a, that does not license district courts to seize control over foreign relations, treat the Executive Branch as a subordinate diplomat, and demand that the United States let a member of a foreign terrorist organization into America tonight.”
The case then went up to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the administration should facilitate Garcia’s return. Justice Sotomayor writes in her opinion, “Instead of hastening to correct its egregious error, the Government dismissed it as an ‘oversight.’ The Government now requests an order from this Court permitting it to leave Abrego Garcia, a husband and father without a criminal record, in a Salvadoran prison for no reason recognized by the law. The only argument the Government offers in support of its request, that United States courts cannot grant relief once a deportee crosses the border, is plainly wrong.”
With that said, the Court also asked for clarification on what the Maryland court order meant and added that they may not have had the power to order the government to return Abrego Garcia in the first place.
That was April 10th.
On Monday, April 14th, El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele met with President Trump. Here’s audio from key speakers at the conference.
Finally, CNN reporter Kaitlan Collins asked El Salvador’s President Bukele if he would return Abrego back to the United States. He likened bringing Abrego Garcia back to the United States as smuggling a terrorist into the country.
Later, the Trump Administration doubled down, saying they had no plans to return Abrego Garcia back to the United States. The Administration posted to their Instagram on Friday, correcting a New York Times Article that initially said "Senator Meets with Wrongly Deported Maryland Man in El Salvador", to say "Senator Meets with Deported MS-13 Illegal Alien in El Salvador Who's Never Coming Back". For context, the article was referencing Senator Chris Van Hollen's visit to the country to try to visit and bring Abrego Garcia back to the US on his own. The message echoed comments made by Attorney General Pam Bondi at a Press Conference earlier on Friday, April 18th, where she said...
"...So he is not coming back to this country. President Bukele said he's not sending him back. That's the end of the story."
This case is ongoing and still developing.
Documents and Sources
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24A949/354843/20250407103341248_Kristi Noem application.pdf
- https://www.scotusblog.com/2025/04/justices-direct-government-to-facilitate-return-of-maryland-man-mistakenly-deported-to-el-salvador/
- https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24A949/354927/20250407153131040_2025.04.07 Respondents Opp to App to Vacate.pdf
- https://immigrationhelpla.com/us-citizenship-through-marriage/#:~:text=To be eligible for U.S.,Good Moral Character
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhY79kjmhh4
Addendums and Additional Notes
Addendum: Saturday, April 19th – Since the airing of this report on The World Telegram NewsRadio, we now have learned that the Supreme Court has suspended it's permission to allow the Trump administration to deport a group of Venezuelan migrants accused of being gang members under the rarely used 1798 Alien Enemies act – an act also used to force Japanese people into concentration camps between 1942 and 1946 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The act, invoked with Executive Order 9066 was signed by President Roosevelt. President Trump invoking this act came under scrutiny because it's widely believed that this authorized the government to remove said people without due process, through the line "shall be liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured, and removed as alien enemies.". While it's vague, under section 23, there is a slight provision for due process. Here, it says they're entitled to a hearing with judicial oversight. However, the standard of proof and the rights afforded may be less robust than in ordinary criminal proceedings.
Addendum: Sunday, April 20th – ICE announced last night that they were expanding the 287(g) Program. "Under 287g authority, DHS and ICE have deputized state and local law enforcement from across the country to perform immigration functions, including: arrests, transportation, and detention. We will use 287g to the maximum extent as a force multiplier in completing the President’s mission and making America safe again.", they posted on X.
Addendum: Sunday, April 20th (2) – ICE also has released a document they declared as a "bombshell". In that document, it's said they suspected Abrego Garcia of Human Trafficking due to a 2022 incident where he was driving a car with 8 people from Texas to Maryland without any luggage. They also referred to an October 2019 report by a Maryland Police Unit that "validated" his ties to the MS-13. Another notable finding is, there was a "Withholding of Removal" status placed on him. This means there were plans to deport him sooner or later, but because of the danger in El Salvador (which Abrego Garcia would've had to been able to support with evidence) a judge temporarily granted him legal status to remain in the United States. This is the basis the Trump Administration is using to support their reason for not returning him. That being, since he was going to be deported sooner or later, whether or not they sent him away to the wrong place is irrelevant. For more information, read this link: https://www.ice.gov/doclib/news/releases/2025/25_0418_hsi_referral-abrego-garcia.pdf