**”Innocent Man Wrongfully Deported to El Salvador by ICE!”**
Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s journey began and ended in his homeland of El Salvador. As a child, he faced extortion from a local gang that threatened his family and tried to recruit him, forcing him to flee to the U.S. at 16. However, at the age of 29, he was mistakenly deported back to El Salvador by the Trump administration, landing in a notorious prison known for its abuse.
During his time in the U.S., Abrego Garcia built a life that included working in construction, getting married, and raising children with disabilities. Despite being accused by local police in Maryland of being affiliated with the MS-13 gang, he was never charged, and an immigration judge granted him protection from deportation to El Salvador in 2019 due to the threat of persecution by local gangs.
Now, Abrego Garcia finds himself at the center of a legal battle that has reached the U.S. Supreme Court, highlighting concerns about due process and the government’s efforts to bring him back from El Salvador. The White House has labeled his deportation as an “administrative error,” citing the gang accusation from 2019 and claiming it lacks the authority to retrieve him.
Abrego Garcia’s attorneys dispute the gang allegations and argue that the U.S. government has the power to bring him back, even though they acknowledge the payment made to El Salvador for his detention. Chief Justice John Roberts has intervened to halt a lower court deadline for his return as the case unfolds.
Abrego Garcia’s childhood in El Salvador was marked by threats and extortion from the Barrio 18 gang, which targeted his family and forced him to seek refuge in the U.S. His family’s business was extorted, and they faced constant threats until they had no choice but to send him away.
In the U.S., he lived a life away from the gang’s reach, but his deportation has brought back the traumas of his past. The legal battle continues, shedding light on the complexities of immigration policies and the human stories behind them.
According to court documents in his immigration case, Abrego Garcia arrived in Maryland to join Cesar, a U.S. citizen, and found work in construction. A few years later, he met Jennifer Vasquez Sura, also a U.S. citizen, and in 2018, they moved in together along with her two children in Prince George’s County. In 2019, while looking for work at Home Depot, Abrego Garcia was arrested by county police and detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement after being questioned about gang membership, which he denied.
Despite seeking asylum and asking for release due to his partner’s high-risk pregnancy, ICE alleged that he was a certified gang member based on information from a confidential informant, linking him to an MS-13 chapter in New York where he had never lived. This led to Abrego Garcia being kept in jail during his immigration case. He later married Vasquez Sura while in detention, and their son was born while he was still incarcerated. Although his asylum request was denied, he was granted protection from deportation to El Salvador due to a fear of gang persecution.
After being released, Abrego Garcia regularly checked in with ICE and obtained a work permit, joining a union as a sheet metal apprentice. He and Vasquez Sura were raising three children, including a 5-year-old son with autism, a 9-year-old with autism, and a 10-year-old with epilepsy. However, in a mistaken deportation, he was designated as an MS-13 member and detained in El Salvador.
In March, Abrego Garcia was pulled over outside an IKEA with his son, and ICE threatened to involve child protective services if Vasquez Sura didn’t retrieve their child within 10 minutes. Despite repeatedly denying gang membership, he was sent to El Salvador where he was confined in a center for individuals deemed terrorists.
The justice minister of the country stated that the individuals detained there would not be reintegrated into their communities. Vasquez Sura identified Abrego Garcia by his tattoos and head scars in prison photos, where she also witnessed video footage of him being escorted by guards, as documented in the court records.
