The US government has kept his return to his mother, telling the court that those who were mistakenly deported remained trapped in the infamous prison.
The Trump administration admitted before federal court that immigrants who were mistakenly deported last month remained locked up in the infamous prison in El Salvador, but refused to say what stages they were taking to get him back to the United States.
In a court filing Saturday, the US State Department said Kilmer Abrego Garcia was “living and safe” in prison, and that he is under the authority of the Salvadoran government.
Abrego Garcia, 29, lived in eastern Maryland for 14 years before President Donald Trump was sent to El Salvador last month with more than 200 others as part of a widespread crackdown on undocumented immigrants.
On April 10, the Supreme Court issued an order calling for the Trump administration to return Abrego Garcia to the United States.
The latest State Department application comes a day after government lawyers struggled at the hearing to provide district judge Paula Sinis with information about Abrego Garcia’s whereabouts.
The judge issued an order on Friday requiring the administration to disclose Abrego Garcia’s “current physical location and management status.”
Michael G. Kozak has identified him as the “senior director of the State Department’s Western Hemisphere Department, but in his latest submission, he said Abrego Garcia is “living” and “living” at the El Salvador facility.
“He is being detained in accordance with the sovereignty of the national authorities of El Salvador.”
However, the lack of government information left Xinis angry. “Where is he and whose authority is he?” the judge asked at a hearing Friday.
“I’m not seeking the secrets of the state. All I know is that he’s not here. The government was forbidden from sending him to El Salvador. Now I’m asking a very simple question.
The judge repeatedly asked government lawyers what was done to return Abrego Garcia, saying, “Did they do something?”
Deputy Attorney General Drew Ensign also told Xinis he had no knowledge of the actions or plans to return Abrego Garcia.
Ensign told the judge that the government is “actively considering what it can do,” saying that the Abrego Garcia case includes three cabinet bodies and important coordination.
Court records show that while in the US, Abrego Garcia was involved in construction, married and raised three children with disabilities.
If he is returned, he will face allegations urging him to expel: a 2019 charge from local Maryland police that he is a member of the MS-13 gang.
Abrego Garcia denied the allegations and was not charged with the crime, his lawyer said.
The controversy comes as Trump is scheduled to meet El Salvador President Naive Buquere at the White House on Monday.
Asked on Friday when Trump met Buquere, if he would seek Abrego Garcia’s return, White House spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt said the Supreme Court’s ruling made clear that the administration’s responsibility was to “promote” Garcia’s return.